Exploring Republican candidate for Ohio Governor Ken Blackwell's connections to what some call an influential cult.
In
this recent story, we showed you the connections between the secular front of the Bill Gothard movement and President George W. Bush. In the hotly contested election in 2004, Ohio was a battleground state -- and election experts like
Bob Fitrakis have books documenting Ohio's stolen election. Well, it turns out that J. Kenneth Blackwell, Secretary of State and candidate for Ohio Governor, just so happens to have connections to these conniving Gothardites. (And you thought
mixing politics with mega-churches was weird!)
Is the growing character cult trying to hand elections over to Republicans who have sipped on their Kool-Aid?
The 2004 Character First! newsletter announces that J. Kenneth Blackwell will be the keynote speaker at the 2004 International Association of Character Cities Convention, while also giving general praise to Blackwell's efforts:
Communities, Candidates, Colleges, and Character
The state of Ohio has made great strides towards fulfilling the state General Assembly's Joint Resolution that designated Ohio as a "character-building state."
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has championed the cause throughout Ohio, sponsoring the Ohio Center for Civic Character. The OCCC is a state-wide project designed to help leaders improve their communities. Blackwell and the OCCC have developed the Candidates of Character Project that encourages candidates for public office to make a written commitment to exemplify and encourage good character.
In order to define good character and provide a common vocabulary, the Ohio Secretary of State's office published Uncommon Sense, a document outlining how individuals can demonstrate good character in their own lives and in their relationships with others. "Noble visions, worthy missions and guiding values all require and are validated by character ethics," Blackwell says on his website. "Thus, a strong character foundation is and always will be the key predictor of true personal health, interpersonal vitality, and organizational success."
OCCC also supports the Ohio Collegiate Alliance for Character. This group of higher education institutions cooperates to define broad character-based standards and develop specific programs to teach and reward good character among administrators, faculty, staff, and students.
"No matter how technologically advanced we get, it will always be about relationships," said Ohio Assistant Secretary of State Monty Lobb. "We feel like from a citizenship perspective that character is the cornerstone of what it means to be a good citizen, and citizenship is the foundation for healthy, vibrant communities."
Blackwell will speak at the 2004 International Building Cities of Character Conference to be held September 22-24 in Oklahoma City.
So who's that Assistant Secretary of State Monty Lobb? Locals might remember him as the old president of CCV (Citizens for Community Values) who worked to shut down the Mapplethorpe exhibit (due to the presence of images like the ones pictured here.) He has also been spotted more recently, giving speeches like this one, where he talks about how everyone in the SOS office wears "character lapel pins."
In an article rather like Silja Talvi's "Cult of Character" (which exposed the Gothardites for the sexist and child abusive beliefs), Katherine Yurica has one called "Blackwell's Un-American Scheme." Here are some relevant excerpts. Please pardon the lengthy quotation, but all of the material is significant:
J. Kenneth Blackwell has stepped to the forefront of the American culture wars. Standing with his feet securely rooted in a form of Orwellian "Double-Think," he has posted his official endorsement of a 20-point religious moral code claimed to be "a shared vocabulary of character-building ethics" on Ohio's official Secretary of State web site. Blackwell wrote, "Character is the cornerstone of American citizenship. And good citizenship is the foundation of community. It is also the foundation of both good business and good government." (Note that he places business before government.)
The 20-Rules to "good" character is titled "UncommonSense"<FONT SIZE="-1">[10]</FONT> which Blackwell recommends "as a character ethics model for Ohio's business and government leaders." Blackwell invites candidates for officeto join him in launching "a revolution of character-building in our great state."
Blackwell speaks candidly. It is a revolution in a deceptively pretty package. Hidden in its paragraphs are concepts of submission, obedience, inspection of the personal lives of people, and the loss of personal rights and freedom that would make America's founding fathers stand on their heads in their graves. In short it is a Dominionist document: a religious treatise in secular terms, but dominionist to the core. It's a brilliant little package to get millions of evangelical Christians and their friends to accept authoritarian government without even a whisper of protest.
It's so deceptively written that people of other faiths or avowed atheists won't know they are accepting religious tenets -- that in fact it is a rational interpretation of some Christian ethics and as such it's nothing less than a concise theological document in drag. Christians, however, will "know" it's "Christian" because the unknown authors of the little tract<FONT SIZE="-1">[11]</FONT> have salted the mine with recognizable terms and barely disguised Bible verses.
There is a strategic reason the authors wanted Christians to believe it is a "Christian" document -- the authors had to send signals over the heads of most of America's citizens in order to reach the faithful evangelicals -- so they would feel comfortable in embracing it. But the authors also had to walk a fine line -- they could not present a religious document from the State of Ohio to its citizens without violating the Constitution of the United States of America. Hence the subterfuge.
What I intend to show you is that J. Kenneth Blackwell and many of the GOP leaders from Ohio and many others in Congress, necessarily know the truth about the religious moral code titled UncommonSense, and how civic renewal has been used and diverted from its original intent. They know that it is a covert way to impose certain religious beliefs upon American citizens using governmental powers. They know that they are in the process of religionizing America and also dominating it. They know it just as they know the sound and rhythm of familiar Bible verses. They know it like they know the prickly feeling on the back of their necks when they hear strains of down-home Gospel singing hitting their ears and hearts. They know it because they planned it.
Just piece together the evidence, everyone. It's plain as day. George W. Bush is affiliated with Gothard. J. Kenneth Blackwell is affiliated with Gothard. Ohio is a battleground state. According to elections experts like Bob Fitrakis, Blackwell hands Ohio to Bush. By the way, let's not forget that Blackwell is still holding out on counting Fitrakis's petitions to run as a Green candidate for Ohio governor.