DefCon

DefCon: The Campaign To Defend the Constitution is a project of the Tides Center seeking to create and nuture an online grassroots movement with the intention of countervailing the growing political clout of the religous right.

Principles

• The Separation of Church and State is a Core Value of American Society
• The Federal Judiciary should be independent from contemporary conservatives' attempts to undermine The Bill Of Rights
• Science, medical research and technology play a crucial role in economic prosperity
• Individual privacy is inviolate; this includes the right of control over one's conception, as well as how to die, and extends to all, irrespective of sexual orientation

Goals

• Alert and inform the public to the threats posed by the religious fundamentalist right to America
• Build and mobilize an online community of person antithetical to the goals of the religious right
• Mobilize allied scientists, political leaders, and theologians to help Americans understand what is at stake
• Help ensure that reason, personal freedom, and the rule of law remain as guiding lights of America
• Become the premiere voice for Americans disturbed by the growing infkluence of right0wing religious fundamentalism, and provide practical and meaningful methods to oppose it

Primary Issues

• Federal Courts
• Stem Cell Research
• Right to Privacy
• Separation of Church & State
• End of Life Decisions
• Defending Science

DefCon Advisory Board

• Bruce Alberts - Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics; University of California, San Francisco. Former president of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. (1993-2005)
• Francisco J. Ayala - Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences; University of California, Irvine. President; Sigma Xi. Formerly, member of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technolog (1994-2001)
• Chip Berlet - Senior analyst; Political Research Associates, author and reseaarcher
• Max Blumenthal - Writing Fellow; Nation Institute Puffin Foundation, Research Fellow; Media Matters for America
• Erwin Chemerinsky - Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Political Science; Duke University. Supreme Court advocate
• Matt Foreman - Executive Director; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• Steven G. Gey - David and Deborah Fonvielle and Donald and Janet Hinkle Professor of Law; Florida State University
• Ira Glasser - former Executive Director; American Civil Liberties Union(1978-2001)
• Michelle Goldberg - senior writer; Salon, journalist
• Steven K. Green - Professor of Constitutional Law and History and Director of the Center for Law and Government; Willamette University in Salem, Oregon
• Rev. Fletcher Harper - Executive Director; GreenFaith. Episcopal priest
• Esther Kaplan - radio and print journalist; author
• Isaac Kramnick - Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government, Cornell University
• Lawrence M. Krauss - Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Director of the Center for Education and Research; Case Western Reserve University
• Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. - President; Southern Christian Leadership Project of greater Los Angeles. President; Los Angeles chapter of the Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. United Methodist pastor
• Kate Michelman - Former president; NARAL
• Patrick Mrotek - Founder; Christian Alliance for Progress
• Harold Varmus - President; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Member; Cancer Biology Research Program at Sloan Kettering Institute
• Rev. Dr. Mel White - Christian minister, author, and filmmaker

Source for Advisory Board data

Contact

• Website: defconamerica.org
• E-Mail: info AT defconamerica.org
• Blog: defconblog.org