Author Peter Berkowitz, in his book Never a Matter of Indifference, said, "Our political society can no longer count on our civil society to support a free society."
For the past year, over a series of blog posts on my website, RegainingFreedom.com, I have made the case that strengthening the bond between children and their biological parents will restore our civil society. I have just now established the Council on Domestic Relations (CDR), a 501(c)(3) non profit corporation for the purpose of strengthening this bond by remediating and reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in every community in America.
The Council on Domestic Relations will mimic an organization which has had enormous impact on international affairs for decades, the Council on Foreign Relations. Founded in 1921, this nonprofit think tank specializes in US foreign policy and international affairs. Its membership of over 5,000 includes senior politicians, more than a dozen secretaries of state, CIA directors, bankers, lawyers, professors, and senior media figures. The Council has served as a “breeding ground” for important American policies such as mutual deterrence, arms control, nuclear non-proliferation and laid the groundwork for such monumental accomplishments as the Marshall Plan an NATO.
Our civil society is jeopardized much like Europe was after WWII, and it warrants an equal amount of organization and effort. The Council on Domestic Relations will employ a similar strategy to strengthen America here at home. The CDR will convene meetings with government officials, business leaders and prominent members of the entertainment and philanthropic community for a discussion about how their organizations and industries can help reduce ACEs nationwide. It will make recommendations to Presidential administrations and the Congressional community, testify before Congress, interact with the media, and publish domestic policy issues.
The CDR will seek out influential men and women in every city and bring them together for discussions on the affects of ACEs in their own communities. These committees will influence local leaders and shape public opinion to build support for the Council's policies. They will encourage and assist in the establishment of ACE remediation centers like the Resiliency Center in Fresno, and ACE Overcomers in Merced, California, to provide resiliency to ACE victums and break the generational cycle of ACEs.
The CDR will conduct ongoing, long term studies, such as the Child Abuse and Neglect report recently released by the University of California, Merced and ACE Overcomers. Strengthening the bond between children and parents will reduce ACE's over time and reverse key negative social indicators, such as crime, incarceration, declining education, abortion, mass murder and gender confusion. Baseline data, case studies and long term tracking will prove that civil society can be restored by breaking the generational cycle of child abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction by ending Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
Many of our nation's leaders believe that America's problems are a bottomless pit and seek endless amounts of federal funding and regulations to solve social problems. As civil society is being restored, the Council on Domestic Relations will encourage, through favorable federal, state and local tax policy, an increase of charity and a decline in public welfare spending.
In 1982, believing in the power of charity and brotherly love, as opposed to welfare programs that drive entire communities into a bleak and heartless dependency, Ronald Reagan created the Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives to decrease dependence on government and transition social programs to the private sector.
President Reagan's initiative was not successful because charities and nonprofits refused to even consider accepting responsibility for the enormous dependency class created by decades of Great Society public policy.
While the government is obligated to provide a social safety net, welfare spending has increased to $909B dollars in 2019, while private charity amounted to $427B in the same year, a margin of two-to-one.
The CDR will reverse this ratio over time, by resurrecting President Reagan’s Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives, adding to it the elimination of Adverse Childhood Experiences as a national goal. While it may take a generation, improving our civil society by reducing ACEs will provide the justification to relieve government of these responsibilities.
By connecting tax policy to private charity and the elimination of ACEs, the President and Congress will reduce welfare and generate more effective and life changing charitable giving, and finally reduce welfare spending to what a true safety net should be, just a fraction of the charity of the American people.
The Council on Domestic Relations will also promote, via Constitutional amendment or court action, initiatives that will limit government intervention in the private sector and the public square.
Research, utilizing the Congressional Research Service, shows that little has been accomplished to limit the growth and reach of Congress, or the Presidency over the last 200 years. The same is true with state legislatures such as California, by ballot initiative. The CDR will influence other think tanks like American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) to promote the restriction of the federal government via the courts, constitutional amendments, or ballot initiatives in the states, including in-session time restrictions and what the federal government is allowed to even consider.
It is clear that our political society is in disarray. In the past, we've relied on the great success of our Constitution, and Capitalism as a political system, but times have changed. Large scale domestic reform must take place. Our free society depends on it.
With the goal of ending adverse childhood experiences and restoring brotherly love to its proper role in the private sector, the Council on Domestic Relations (CDR), will restore civil society and freedom in America . Click here to find out more about how you can help.