Jeff Sharlet wrote a book called The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, which expands on an article he wrote for Harpers called Jesus Plus Nothing. Sharlet actually had a chance to live with these guys for awhile and has an amazing (and chilling) story to tell about this group that is apparently Ground Zero for Christianists in power or who want to be in power.
Sharlet was on Bill Maher recently — here is the complete interview and it is worth every minute:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr69bhccD-Q[/youtube]
In a recent Salon article, Sharlet describes the group thusly:
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They’re followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to “advance the Kingdom.” They say they’re working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn’t registered as a lobby — and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
But it goes further — after telling this group of men (mostly) and women (with at least two Democrats that I count in the current group) that they are “Chosen by God”, they are told that there is nothing that they can do wrong, as long as they were doing it in the service of the work (of gaining power) that they were chosen for. So they are accountable to no one — not even the people who vote them into power in the first place. This explains alot about the wide and deep strain of GOP hypocrisy (Christianists mostly) — they can say and do anything they need to in the service of power, but being accountable for actions or what they say never has to be part of the calculus. It would explain how David Vitter could get away with visiting prostitutes and keep his job while Eliot Spitzer is working his way out of his own disgrace. It would explain how a group of people who badly want to have the 10 Commandments posted damn near everywhere don’t mind relying on routine lying and character assassination to achieve heir ends. Apparently the ends are more important than living by the Commandments.