Palin & The Family

In his book, The Family, author Jeff Sharlet describes a link between former Senator Dan Coats of Indiana and Sarah Palin in this campaign. Coats, says Sharlet is “a canny politician, if not a great thinker, and has become one of the top advisors to the McCain campaign. “ The point is that Coats has a long time relationship with the Family, the group that sponsors the National Prayer Breakfast every year; the same group that are one hundred per cent committed to ideas of economics based on Biblical interpretations and to neo- conservative foreign policy.

Therein lays the connection with Palin and the ultra (neo) conservative right. Palin presides over of the governor’s prayer breakfast in Alaska that blatantly promotes theological Dominionism. That kind of thinking is just right for the most influential Christian religious group in Washington, although the group is the worlds’ worst kept secret since all of their activities are behind-the-scenes and are rarely made fodder for the media mill.

At the end of the day, the Coats connection is critical. In aligning herself with Coats via the McCain campaign Sarah Palin is really campaigning for the preservation of the status quo, a continuation of the establishment now in power but with more Pentecostal punch.

Most Americans would say that they do not want an American jihad (holy war) waged in the name of God to save the entire world any more than they want a nuclear war. But when you look at the churches Palin attends and associates with, when you look at her public statements and political decisions in the past decade, serious consideration has to be given to the concept and the true meaning of having a Vice President, a heartbeat away from the United States presidency, who holds such apocalyptic views.

God Directs the Affairs of Man

During the recent Republican National Convention, Rev. Prevo, a member of the delegation, answered a call from Palin to pray for her. As the story goes, Prevo handed the governor his cell phone to hear Franklin Graham calling to congratulate her.

Franklin Graham has been the keynote speaker for the Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast the past two years. According to their Web site, the organizers believe, "God directs the affairs of Man and is the ultimate authority over human events." The Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast is linked to the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by The Family (aka The Fellowship Foundation). The Family is headed by Doug Coe, one of the most influential evangelicals in Washington, D.C. Coe's group operates out of public view, organizing small cells attended by the power elite, mostly Republicans. It was in one of these groups that George Bush was saved and became a follower.

Elite fundamentalists believe that they are personally chosen by God to be in positions of power. With the power of God behind them (i.e. divine rule), they claim legitimacy of their political power. By definition then, anyone who opposes their views is an instrument of Satan, evil to the core. Our founding fathers rejected divine rule as dangerous and instead modeled the country under the separation of church and state. It was never the intention of the founding fathers to create a system that would have decisions rest on good/evil but rather on the concepts of prudence and tolerance.

People will debate for a long time, win or lose, whether Palin was picked for her perfect pandering to the Christian fundamentalist right. Time will tell, win or lose, if John McCain undermined his entire political career by choosing as a running mate an ultra conservative fundamentalist who may be the least qualified person on the political landscape to ever have achieved such a lofty nomination.