DoomsdaysCW<p>What do <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/VanceBoelter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VanceBoelter</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ErikPrince" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ErikPrince</span></a> have in common? Quite a bit! But Prince prefers to farm out <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Assassinations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Assassinations</span></a> to his minions!</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Theocratic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Theocratic</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Mercenary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mercenary</span></a> Erik Prince and the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChristianRight" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChristianRight</span></a></p><p>by Mike Kuhlenbeck • 19 June 2018</p><p>"Erik Dean Prince was born in Holland, Michigan, on June 6, 1969, the youngest child and only son of Edgar and Elsa Prince, who also had daughters Betsy, Emilie, and Eileen. As documented by author Suzanne Simons in her 2009 book Master of War: <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Blackwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Blackwater</span></a> USA’s Erik Prince and the Business of War, Prince grew up in a religious household and attended Christian schools; the Princes were members of the Reformed Church in America, a conservative Christian sect that follows the philosophical template of theologian John Calvin.</p><p>"Edgar Prince worked as a die caster and then chief engineer for the die cast machine manufacturing outfit Buss Machine Works after serving in the US Air Force. In 1965 he and two co-workers struck out on their own to establish Prince Manufacturing. By the 1970s the company expanded its operations and became financially successful, as did the Prince family. Edgar Prince died of heart failure in 1995, and the company was sold to Johnson Controls for over $1 billion.</p><p>"Surrounded by those who share their belief in Christian-based politics, the Prince family has used its fortune to help build the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ConservativeChristian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ConservativeChristian</span></a> movement. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and Richard Nixon’s disgraced former special counsel Charles Colson (who became a born-again Christian after serving seven months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal) were family friends. Edgar and Elsa Prince were major contributors to the Family Research Council and founded the nonprofit Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation in 1979, substantial funds from which have gone toward the effort to abolish the legal wall separating church and state. The Prince family also has deep ties to the Council for National Policy (<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CNP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CNP</span></a>) which, according to its vision statement, supports “a united conservative movement to assure, by 2020, policy leadership and governance that restores religious and economic freedom, a strong national defense, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/JudeoChristian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JudeoChristian</span></a> values under the Constitution.”</p><p>"From Reverend <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BillyGraham" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BillyGraham</span></a>’s “spiritual counsel” to twelve US presidents, to Reverend <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/JerryFalwell" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JerryFalwell</span></a>’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MoralMajority" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MoralMajority</span></a> movement of the 1970s and ’80s, to Marion Gordon <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PatRobertson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PatRobertson</span></a>’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChristianCoalition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChristianCoalition</span></a> (now the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChristianCoalitionOfAmerica" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChristianCoalitionOfAmerica</span></a>), the movement to push a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fundamentalist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fundamentalist</span></a> “Judeo-Christian” agenda into the public sphere has been an ongoing crusade. Keeping with family tradition, Erik Prince’s sister Betsy married fellow Christian right figure Dick DeVos, whose father is the founder of Amway and the past president of the CNP from 1990-1993. Betsy DeVos served as the chair of the Michigan Republican Party and now serves as US Secretary of Education under Donald Trump. The DeVos dynasty, labelled a “family of extremists” by the Center for American Progress, is undoubtedly having an influence on the Trump White House."</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://thehumanist.com/magazine/july-august-2018/features/theocratic-mercenary-erik-prince-christian-right" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehumanist.com/magazine/july-</span><span class="invisible">august-2018/features/theocratic-mercenary-erik-prince-christian-right</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChristoFascists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChristoFascists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChristoFascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChristoFascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Mercenaries" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mercenaries</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PrivateSecurity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PrivateSecurity</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MAGA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MAGA</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MAGADeathCult" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MAGADeathCult</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RightWing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RightWing</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ViolentExtremists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ViolentExtremists</span></a></p>