Except I think it was a different DeVos. As linked by
href="http://markmaynard.com/index.php/2006/09/27/devos_the_domionist"
rel="tag">Mark
Maynard, the irascibly analytical frontman for the
href="http://www.monkeypowertrio.com/" rel="tag">Monkey
Power Trio, Rolling Stone has
href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/">an
article that states:
...The godfather of the Dominionists is
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._James_Kennedy">D.
James Kennedy [link added], the most influential evangelical
you've never heard of...
...While the dominionists rely on grass-roots activists to fight their
battles, they are backed by some of America's richest entrepreneurs.
Amway founder Rich DeVos, a Kennedy ally who's the leading Republican
contender for governor of Michigan, has tossed more than $5 million
into the collection plate...
The thing is, there are two
Richard Devos's. The older one goes
by "Rich
DeVos;" his son goes by "
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos">Dick DeVos."
So I think Rolling Stone got it wrong.
I guess I cannot be sure, since it is possible that the
Rich-Dick distinction has led to confusion more than once.
The DeVos who contributed to the
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionist">Dominionists
probably was the older one, whereas it is the younger one who is
running
for governor of Michigan.
Why is this important? Dominionists
href="http://www.mousemusings.com/weblogs/2005/02/examining-real-agenda-of-religious-far.html">openly
advocate for a
href="http://estimatedprophet.blogspot.com/2004_11_21_estimatedprophet_archive.html#110116986936016204">theocratic
government in the United States. D. James Kennedy,
in particular, is quoted as having said:
- "Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the
cost. As
the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and
influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our
literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our
news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and
institution of human society."
class="reference">
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._James_Kennedy#_note-4"
title="">[7]- "The Christian community has a golden opportunity to
train an army of dedicated teachers who can
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invade" title="Invade">invade
the public school classrooms and use them to influence the nation for
Christ."
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._James_Kennedy#_note-5"
title="">[8]
It would be highly alarming to have a supporter of such a person
running for a high government office. Of course, it is only
slightly less alarming to have his son
running for office.
Although I appreciate every opportunity to cast aspersions on
Dick DeVos, I think it is better to be clear about who has done what.
We already know about Dick's desire to
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/09/devos_promotes_intelligent_des.php">push
Intelligent Design/Creationism in the classroom, so it is
likely that he shares some of the Dominionist values. But I
cannot say that he would go so far as to support
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Reconstructionism">Christian
Reconstructionism.
Fortunately, we do not need a direct connection to Dominionists in
order to disparage Dick DeVos. According to the
href="http://www.granholmforgov.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7499">Macomb
Daily News:
...DeVos repeatedly points to his business
experience, and says he will use that knowledge to run state government
like a business...
But what kind of business does he run? As
described in the Wikipedia article about him:
In 2000, DeVos oversaw a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_restructuring"
title="Corporate restructuring">corporate restructuring
that created
title="Alticor">Alticor, the new
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parent_company"
title="Parent company">parent company of
predecessor Amway, as well as subsidiary companies
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Business_Group"
title="Access Business Group">Access Business Group,
and
title="Quixtar">Quixtar.
Under DeVos, Alticor expanded operations to more than 50 countries and
territories on six continents. Over 1,300 Michigan workers were put out
of work during this restructuring. Although more then 400 of these jobs
were from buy outs and early retirement.
class="reference">
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos#_note-2" title="">[3]
Amway was sanctioned in a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_re._Amway_Corp."
title="In re. Amway Corp.">1979 ruling, although
Amway has not been charged by the
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Trade_Commission"
title="Federal Trade Commission">Federal Trade Commission
for
title="Pyramid scheme">pyramid scheme violations.
id="_ref-3" class="reference">
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos#_note-3" title="">[4]
However, the FTC now requires that
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway" title="Amway">Amway
and
title="Quixtar">Quixtar publish an SA4400, which
reveals that more than 99% of all distributors lose money each year.
id="_ref-4" class="reference">
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos#_note-4" title="">[5]
id="_ref-4" class="reference">
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos#_note-4" title="">
It is one of those businesses where literally all
the profit goes to the top 1%. Everyone else gets the shaft.
Our government is
href="http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_income20060829">already
moving in that direction. We hardly need to
encourage them.