Customer Reviews

The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthopy Undermines Democratic Pluralism

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Russ Bellant has produced an important piece of research that documents the far right ideology and activities of the Coors family -- and how they back them up with big bucks. All this is of historic consequence. This short and densely written book belongs on the booshelf of anyone who aspires to political literacy in America. It should be a standard reference for anyone writing about American politics, government and religion.

This book exposes Coors for the anti-labor, racist, right-wing sludge that it is. Institutionalized "conservative politics" (i.e. corporate-class serving fascism) takes a well needed slam.

Contrary to what some of the other reviewers assert, this isn't just a book about people who support the Republicans. It's about an interlocking web of Far Right individuals and organisations including Christian Reconstructionists who advocate turning the USA into a theocracy and stoning gays and adulterers to death.

One person quoted in this book, Gary North, says: "The so-called underdeveloped societies are underdeveloped because they are socialist, demonist and cursed. The Bible tells us that the citizens of the Third World ought to feel guilty, to fall on their knees and repent from their Godless, rebellious socialist ways. They should feel guilty because they are guilty, both individually and corporately."

Is this truly a Christian stance? Full marks to Russ Bellant for exposing such Far Right bigotry.

America has not yet envisioned a system that confers the privilege of funneling dollars into nonprofits that are not meant to be socially or politically destructive, and still justify nonprofit status.

Sadly, it is a system where any family or organization is taken at face value for their charitable and phianthropic mission regardless of whether it is to build up America or take it down.

Not deliberating upon the topic prevents it from ever becoming a reality, and therefore, this family is not the first to do irreparable harm to American society in the name of goodness, nor will it be the last. The nature of free speech in society is that intentions cannot be restrained. But is it also necessary to allow them to be characterized as philanthropy and thereby accumulate their funding arsenals tax-free while Americans pay tax dollars to sort through the destruction for salvage?

Back in 2000, Coors spilled beer into Clear Lake,in Golden,Colorado, killing over 50,000 fish. Because of that I would never drink a Coors beer. Then, I read The Coors Connection and learned of their involvement with the KKK and John Birch Society, not to mention their intolerance of Blacks and Mexicans, and their union-busting tactics. Through the years, because it's more lucrative to increase their market, the Coors family have donned the mantle of tolerance but I'm afraid the stripes cannot be erased from the tiger. Paying money for a Coors beer and drinking it without knowing about the history of the Coors empire is proof that someone is simply not privy to the back story. But knowing the back story and still paying for and drinking that beer is condoning intolerance, racism, sexism, and it's an affront to Democracy in our country. It's like patting the back of a Nazi skinhead and saying "I'm with you, bro." So if Adolph Hitler were alive today and said he no longer hated the Jews, would you really believe him?

The authors seem to be far more interseted in vilifying the Coors family for their conservative politics than in presenting any reasonable case for how those politics are harmful to our "democracy." If you are interested in reading about the family/company history of the Coors, try Citizen Coors, a far more balanced and reasoned book.

In this tedious and boring volume, all Bellant can prove is that the Coors family writes checks for Republicans. Is this a sin against democracy? Hardly. We only have two parties, and if the Coors feel more inclined toward the Republicans, they have every right to act on those convictions. Bellant has no evidence that the Coors are connected to any actual subversive or law-breaking organization like the Christian Identity movement or Aryan Nations. The "right-wing" groups that Bellant identifies are simply ordinary Republicans. In some cases, Coors donates to groups that oppose legalized abortion or the advocacy of homosexuality in the school system - but are these groups really "anti-democratic" or "anti-pluralism?" If People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has the right to campaign against the eating of meat, then I think James Dobson has the right to campaign against abortion. Or did I miss something in civics class? Bellant has every right to say that people like James Dobson are wrong, but he has no right to imply that they are violent subversives who operate outside the law simply because their views don't square with those of the Democratic party.

Bellant has an obvious axe to grind with evangelical Christians, whom he characterizes as demonic minions who must be cleansed from the American landscape simply because their views aren't like his.

Once upon time, we Americans worried about "Reds under every bed." How times change -- this book is an artifact of the days when some folks seemed to be worrying about "conservatives under every bed."

The problem with left-wing attack jobs like this is simple -- the authors are never content to write only about the facts. They always have to bring in wild speculation regarding motivations that they cannot back up. Unfortunately, this means the writers throw away any chance of readers perceiving them as objective, dispassionate researchers. That is the prime weakness of Messrs. Bellant and Berlet in this volume -- their obvious hostility towards the Coors family's philanthropic activities on behalf of traditionalism and conservatism is so obvious that it annoys and, ultimately, alienates the reader. I don't wish to speculate why the authors feel this hostility towards the Coors family.

If you want to read a book about politics, you're probably better off picking up a copy of Laird Wilcox's "The Watchdogs." Now *that* is a most interesting expose of suspicious connections and little-known information.

Once upon time, we Americans worried about "Reds under every bed." How times change -- this book is an artifact of the days when some folks seemed to be worrying about "conservatives under every bed."

The problem with attack jobs like this is simple -- the authors are never content to write only about the facts. They always have to bring in wild speculation regarding motivations that they cannot back up. Unfortunately, this means the writers throw away any chance of readers perceiving them as objective, dispassionate researchers. That is the prime weakness of Messrs. Bellant and Berlet in this volume -- their obvious hostility towards the Coors family's philanthropic activities on behalf of traditionalism and conservatism is so obvious that it annoys and, ultimately, alienates the reader. I don't wish to speculate why the authors feel this hostility towards the Coors family.

If you want to read a book about politics, you're probably better off picking up a copy of Laird Wilcox's "The Watchdogs." Now *that* is a most interesting expose of suspicious connections and little-known information.