The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans, believes that the House Freedom Caucus poses one of the greatest threats to our democracy by letting approximately 36-40 individuals thrust the will of the reasonable majority. What makes this political situation so unbearable for everyday Americans is the ‘my way or the highway’ mandate that comes from this Freedom Caucus. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God and that no man has the actual answer to the right path or the right way. Only with God’s help is man able to figure out his direction in life, so how is it that 40 white males in the Congress of the United States hold the whole country hostage to their narrow and narcissistic attitude and interpretation of our Constitution.
On the face of it, when you look at the Freedom Caucus’ goals, every reasonable American including African Americans would support their objectives. More broadly, the caucus wants power shifted away from the leadership to the rank-and-file (by, for instance, giving committees more leeway on which bills move forward and allowing more amendments to come to floor votes). The whole point of the House of Representatives is that they represent the people and three or four people in leadership should not determine the course of action of 435 members of the House and the millions of Americans that they represent. But we know differently. This is what they say they are about but this is not what they have done. What they have done is to form a Caucus and agreed that they would block any legislation that benefits the vast majority of hard working Americans because they have determined that government should play a meager role in a person’s life and not serve the people that formed the government itself.
Rev. Anthony Evans, President of the National Black Church Initiative, says, “No one is under any illusions about the aim of the Freedom Caucus to do the very same thing they are accusing the House leadership of doing. They want to control the lives of millions of Americans and to do all that they can to limit their opportunity to freedom, justice and the pursuit of happiness. The Black Church will not sit by and allow 40 white men to determine our destiny after we have spent 400 years in this country fighting white tyranny like what the Freedom Caucus is all about.
“God has given me a vision that the Freedom Caucus will come to an endbecause of its own evil morality because a lie cannot endure forever.”
The Freedom Caucus want to determine for every poor and middle-class American exactly what the government will do for them and what the government will not do for them. Here are 40 arrogant white males again trying to enslave the balance of the American public, other than the rich. If you find out who funds them then you find out their agenda. It is easy to call them racist and narcissistic and arrogant, that they are, but also, they represent something more sinister that this country will come to dread in years to come. They represent one of the worst attributes of tyranny that we the American public have ever been subject to—enslavement.
Let us explain. We send our taxes and our representatives to Congress to represent our interests and to spend our money according to our will and our need and these 40 white males say we do not have a right to determine anything about our livelihood and our money and our own personal treasures. They say that we have appointed ourselves with the backings of other white rich male, who will be our master in what we will get and what we will not get because they have honed a Caucus and made a pledge, not to God, not to country, not even to their children but to themselves that they will limit our right to liberty, to freedom, to economic well-being and to the services of our own government. This is why they represent the worst characteristics of any American character ever cloaked in the flag of this great country and say that they are trying to serve humanity and God.
As an example, though they represent less than a sixth of House Republicans, by acting as a bloc (decisions agreed to by 80% of the caucus are supposed to be binding on all) and choosing their fights carefully, the Freedom Caucus has certainly made an impact since its formation. The group’s defiance of Speaker John Boehner, over issues such as fast-track trade authority and defunding Planned Parenthood, contributed to Boehner’s decision last year to quit the job. And the group’s decision not to back House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy prompted McCarthy to pull out of the race and positioned the Freedom Caucus as a kingmaker. Just recently they killed the Healthcare Bill. NBCI did not support it, but this represents another example of how they are holding the country hostage to their narcissistic interpretation of democracy. We disagree with portions of Obamacare as well and we do believe that it will eventually collapse under its own weight of over-regulations, but for 40 white men to tell us that we do not deserve healthcare, is in itself our point of departure in disagreeing with their notion of democracy.
They are what the Black Church will call white spiritual evil. They represent a new form of slavery that even goes beyond race by trying to control the soul and the people of America because they believe that our government is not supposed to guarantee us a right to liberty, a right to education, a right to healthcare, a right to economic development, and a right to be left alone by a government that overpowers the soul at every turn. They believe that we should live our lives as Americans, vicariously through the poor by applauding them for limiting our opportunities. In the words of the great Preacher of Detroit, Charles Adam and Apostle Paul, “How foolish.”
ABOUT NBCI
The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 African American and Latino churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment. NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, churches and the public. Our methodology is utilizing faith and sound health science.
NBCI’s purpose is to partner with major organizations and officials whose main mission is to reduce racial disparities in the variety of areas cited above. NBCI offers faith-based, out-of-the-box and cutting edge solutions to stubborn economic and social issues. NBCI’s programs are governed by credible statistical analysis, science based strategies and techniques, and methods that work. Visit our website at www.naltblackchurch.com.
