Eagle Forum, the national, conservative, pro-life, pro-family grassroots organization that was started back in 1972 by the late Phyllis Schlafly, is still alive and well and going strong. It is now 51 years old.
It got its start after Schlafly, already well-known as a conservative and a syndicated columnist, successfully led the national battle to defeat the liberal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that was being pushed and promoted by the feminists of our nation.
Schlafly found out that ERA really should have been called “the Equal Abortion Amendment,” because that was the key component of it. The feminists wanted free abortions to be available for all women across the nation, paid for with taxpaying dollars.
After the defeat of the ERA, Schlafly changed the name “Stop ERA” to “Eagle Forum” because she wanted to continue her contact with all the pro-life, pro-family women and men who had supported her efforts across the nation. She wanted a permanent pro-family organization of like-minded people to gather for monthly meetings and to work together to keep the freedoms and traditional values of our nation intact.
Eagle Council
Schlafly began the tradition of holding an annual national “Eagle Council” where Eagle Forum leaders and members from across the nation would gather in St. Louis for a conference to hear outstanding speakers on important issues and to have reports from the various state leaders. She began alternating between St. Louis and Washington, D.C. for the annual meetings.
I recently attended the 51st annual Eagle Council at the Crystal City Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, Sept. 26–30. With me were four others from our Sonoma County Eagle Forum chapter in California. It was their first time attending Eagle Council and their first time in Washington, D.C. They were Jennifer Gunderson, her daughter Sophia Swehle, and her two granddaughters: Janaya Swehle, age 18, and Alayna Grupico, age 16. Alayna and Janaya were national Eagle Forum student scholarship winners, which meant they were able to attend the conference and stay in the hotel free of charge. Eagle Forum of California also contributed to paying for their flights.
The four members of the Gunderson family all raved about their experience attending Eagle Council. They loved the evening bus tour on Wednesday night that took us to see many historical monuments all lit up. They enjoyed lobby day at the Capitol on Thursday and were very impressed with the outstanding speakers at the two-day conference on Friday and Saturday (described below).
Jennifer Gunderson told me, “I am so grateful to have found an organization that I can totally trust to teach the truth to myself and my family.”
Her family consists of 9 children and 21 grandchildren. She has always wanted the truth to be taught; that is why she homeschooled her children, and they are doing the same to their children.
She was also impressed to see how many elderly women there were at Eagle Council in their 70s and 80s and still going strong, very active in national leadership and in their state chapters as leaders. They were not just sitting at home watching television all day, as so many elderly people are doing.
Eagle Council 2023 had the theme of “Faith Not Fear,” taken from the scripture II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not Given us a Spirit of Fear…”
There were outstanding speakers speaking on every current topic of concern. The council was attended by 150 people who flew in from different states where active Eagle Forum chapters and leaders exist.
There were also 15 “Student Eagles,” who came with full scholarships donated from donors across the nation.
Since Phyllis Schlafly’s death at age 92 in September 2016, Eagle Forum is now under the leadership of President Kris Ullman, an attorney in Alexandria, Virginia, and Anne Schlafly Carpenter, who serves as the CEO and lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Anne is the youngest of the six children of Phyllis and Fred Schlafly, and she is the one whom Phyllis had groomed and always counted on to take over after she passed away.
Families and Farming
Senator Mary Miller is from Illinois, where she and her husband have a large farm and cattle ranch. They homeschooled their seven children and taught them to work hard on the family farm. Her talk was on “Faith, Family and Farming, and Raising Strong Families is Hard Work.”Metaverse
Kristyn Ruzicka works for the FBI in Utah against child exploitation. She spoke about “Metaverse, What it is and How Bad Actors are Using it to Exploit Your Children.”She told how children and adults using Metaverse goggles enter a world of virtual reality that can be used for good—for exercising, playing fun games, education, and even for doctors to perform operations remotely—or for evil.
Screen Addiction
Melanie Heepe spoke about “Screen Strong Solutions.” She told of her first son, Adam, who became so addicted to video games that he had to drop out of college. He didn’t leave his dorm room for a week, missed all of his classes, and barely ate.The Heepe solution for Adam was 14 weeks of detoxing called “basic training” and five years in the military. It was the best thing that could have happened to him. He came back a different person, went on to college and to law school, and is now a successful attorney.
Ms. Heepe and her husband learned from that experience and did not allow any video games, cell phones, or social media for their three younger children. Those children went on to be elected student leaders in high school, to play the violin and the piano, and to be socially well-rounded. All went on to college and excelled in their chosen professions.
Women’s Sports
Riley Gaines, a national and international champion swimmer, received a standing ovation before and after she spoke. She spoke on “Women’s Sports and Private Spaces are for Women Only.”She told of her daily training for 18 years, sometimes in the water for 6 hours a day, and all that she had sacrificed, starting as a young child, to become a champion swimmer. This was also true of so many other women.
Then they discover that their chances for winning top honors and scholarships are taken from them because of a transgender male who enters the competition. How unfair that is!
That is why Ms. Gaines has now taken on the cause of trying to ensure that women’s sports will be for women only, and women’s locker rooms will be safe and private—for women only. She was accepted at dental school but has postponed that for a few years, as she is now traveling the nation speaking on this important subject.
The Evening Banquet
The Evening Banquet began with a special musical number, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” whistled by Chris Ullman, husband of Kris Ullman. Mr. Ullman holds the title of four-time whistle champion of the world.The featured speaker was to be Tim Ballard, who was going to speak about his story of rescuing children from sex trafficking that was depicted in the movie “Sound of Freedom,” but Mr. Ballard missed his flight leaving California.
His wife, Katherine Ballard, spoke to us briefly after being introduced as the Eagle Forum recipient of the “Homemaker of the Year” award. She thanked Eagle Forum for this great honor and said that every organization needs to celebrate marriage and family as Eagle Forum does. She was impressed by all the mothers at the conference who are standing for freedom.
She said: “What qualifies us for being a good mother? When we are trying to be heaven-directed.”
She quoted the entire scripture from which the theme of Faith not Fear comes: II Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
It is through the power of God that we are able to stand up and do this work for the children of the world; it is through the love of God that we are fighting for these children and rescuing the vulnerable; and it is through a sound mind that we can speak about these different subjects without fear.
Evening Workshops
Phyllis Schlafly started the tradition that is still being continued at Eagle Council. When most conferences end at 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. and many attendees gather at the hotel bar or restaurant to socialize, Phyllis Schlafly would encourage them instead to gain even more knowledge by attending an in-depth workshop that would start at 9:30 and last until 11:00 p.m.Combating Woke Ideology
James Lindsey, a Ph.D. and author, was asked questions by Kris Ullman about his books and his philosophy. Their discussion was titled “How Do We Take Back Woke Ground?”Mr. Lindsey was asked by Ms. Ullman: What is the one thing that binds together all of the radical ideologies being promoted in our public schools and universities? His answer was “Marxism.”
What is its purpose? To gain power and control over others, to force them to conform to the Marxist ideology.
He recommends that everyone homeschool their children.
Mr. Lindsey said, “If you take a confused, transitioning child out of public school and take their cell phone away with no more social media, then in three weeks, you will have your child back to normal.”
Chromosomes Matter
Rep. Phil Lyman of Utah spoke on “Legislation Defined by Science—Chromosomes Matter.”He told how, with the help of Eagle Forum of Utah, he was able to get state legislation passed to defend biological sex in state law. His bill was about protecting women’s spaces.
He believes that when you stand up for women, you stand up for families. His bill was based on a Florida bill. It defines “female” as a producer of eggs and “male” as a producer of sperm, and it takes “sex” to mean whether a person is male or female. It considers “a male in a female facility” to be trespassing.
Mr. Lyman believes there are no true “transgenders.” We are all born with either XX (female) or XY (male) chromosomes. They always stay the same, no matter what hormone therapy or mutilation a “transitioning” person tries to go through.
Currency
Kevin Freeman spoke on “A Constitutional Alternative to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and the Risks to Fiat Currency.”He is the author of two books on money and co-founder and host of a weekly TV show called “The Economic War Room” on Blaze TV. He also has a blog called “GlobalEconomicWarfare.com.”
His two books are “According to Plan—The Elite’s Secret Plan to Sabotage America” and “Pirate Money—Discovering the Founders’ Hidden Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset.”
Mr. Freeman told us that America is facing a global economic war. Willful blindness is being used to deceive the American people. Our leaders are no longer protecting us.
On “The Economic War Room,” he advises people and agencies about the coming plans for CBDC. He helped get Governor Kristy Noem of South Dakota to veto a bill that would have promoted CBDC that was 100 pages long.
Mr. Freeman believes CBDC will be the Mark of the Beast mentioned in Rev. 13:19. Every purchase we make will be able to be tracked and traced. The government will know all that we do, and if they don’t like it, they can stop us.
Mr. Freeman told us that we need to “weaponize our money.” We need to look for non-China, non-woke alternatives; stop investing in Blackrock, Larry Fink/Index funds, and invest instead with LSV—Liberty, Security, and Values.
The Chinese Regime
Frank Gaffney spoke about “The Danger of China.” Mr. Gaffney is the founder and executive chairman of Center for Security Policy. He is conveniently located near Washington, D.C. and was able to fill in for Tim Ballard at the last minute.He now serves as the VP for the Committee of Present Danger: China. He spoke about the looming threat of China. He said that for 70 years China has been trying to rise to be the superpower of the world.
He spoke of the terrible atrocities the Chinese regime has committed against humanity, mostly against its own people—100 million have been killed; another 400 million have been killed in the womb by China’s forced abortion laws. Any government that treats its own people so badly will have no compassion for the rest of the world.
Mr. Gaffney said that China is a threat to us in the following ways: China has taken over our manufacturing base, including our steel manufacturing. So many parts to even build our own military equipment have to come from China. So much of our medicine and pharmaceutical drugs come from China. And China is bringing down our military strength by the Marxist false teachings that are now being taught to our youth and our soldiers. China is aware of how weak our military is, how recruitment is down and morale is low.
He also mentioned that it is believed that close to 100,000 military-age Chinese males have crossed our southern border along with all the other illegal immigrants. Is China planning an invasion from the inside of our nation?
Mr. Gaffney also spoke about how China is funding and pushing the World Health Organization (WHO), which is trying to become the new global governance, using any kind of “health emergency” to usurp worldwide government control.
