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New Right leaders were highly organized and understood the potential of mass telecommunications. PAT ROBERTSON formed the CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK to send his message. The PTL (PRAISE THE LORD) Club led by JIM BAKKER transmitted faith healing and raucous religious revival to the largest viewing audience of any daily program in the world. They built massive databases containing the names and addresses of potential financial contributors and regularly solicited funds. In 1979, Jerry Falwell formed the MORAL MAJORITY, Inc. This group and hundreds of others raised money to defeat liberal senators, representatives, and governors. They sought to control school boards on the local level to advance their conservative agenda. Ronald Reagan freely accepted contributions from the New Right on his way to the Presidency in 1980.
Like most movements, the New Right contained an extremist element. Racial hatred groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the AMERICAN NAZI PARTY joined the outcry against American moral decline. Ultra-libertarian militia groups formed in many states dedicated to attacking the American government they believed had become far too invasive. They steadfastly supported the right to bear arms as a means to defend themselves from tyranny. Some groups began stockpiling arsenals. These organizations interpreted the term "cultural war" in the most literal, ominous sense.
For many, the end of the '70s seemed shrouded in a dark malaise.
But morning in America was about to dawn