By Curtis Bowers

The start of a new year is always a time of reflection as we learn from the past and prepare for the future. An unusual opportunity I had years ago is especially significant today, in light of the many issues facing Americans.

In 1992 I read that the Communist Party USA was gathering at the University of California, Berkeley. I was curious to see what they had to say about the Berlin Wall coming down and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Would they give up, or did they have a different approach? I decided to go and find out.

I assumed it would be a bunch of radical college students, so to fit the part, I grew a goatee, got a revolutionary T-shirt and put on some ratty jeans. After getting checked into my dorm room on campus, I went over to the conference hall for the first meeting. I was amazed to see a room filled with 50-, 60- and 70-year-old men and women, professionally dressed with their briefcases.

For the next several days I listened, took notes and talked to the leadership. The plan they unfolded had nothing to do with guns, bombs or violence. They acknowledged their disappointment with what had happened in the Soviet Union but felt they could still “take America down.” This time, instead of using force from the outside, they would use public policy from the inside.

They had a three part agenda. They would use their manpower, influence and funds to back anything that would destroy our families, businesses and culture.

Firstly, to destroy the family, they would promote co-habitation instead of marriage. They would also try to get children away from their mothers into government programs at the earliest age possible. They felt the best way to do this was to promote the feminist movement, which had been very effective at making women discontent with marriage and motherhood.

Secondly, to destroy businesses, they aimed to wipe out the profit potential that motivated people to start them. If people couldn’t make good money off their ideas and hard work, they would eventually be content working for someone else. They were sure the environmental movement (modest at the time) was the only vehicle capable of creating enough regulation and expense to discourage business growth.

Finally, to destroy our culture, they needed us to abandon our heritage of religion and morality. They believed the homosexual movement, if accepted, would begin to effectively extinguish these values.

At the time they laid out this strategy, I wasn’t overly impressed. It seemed very unrealistic and certainly not something to worry about in my lifetime. Yet as I sit in my office, recall their plan and consider where America is today, I am shocked.

Our first woman presidential candidate talks about how degrading it is to be a stay-at-home mom. Businesses are closing down or moving daily to other countries because environmental regulations are too excessive to make a profit. And legislation is being considered in Washington, D.C. that makes it a crime to discuss in public any opposition to the homosexual lifestyle. As the old advertisement said, “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

When we see many mainstream politicians and activist judges with the same agenda that just 16 years ago was that of Communist strategists, it is time for patriotic Americans to wake up and get involved.

— Curtis Bowers is an Idaho representative from District 10.