There’s a reason followers of the reactionary James Dobson are called “sheeple.”

As chairman of the $145 million-a-year propaganda organization Focus on the Family, Dobson is the ultimate puppet master, giving conservative members of Congress marching orders in exchange for votes from his flock.

In Denver alone, Focus on the Family radio broadcasts can be heard 10 times a day on three stations. It’s heard by 1.5 million Americans each day. Millions more are influenced by the rest of FOTF’s media conglomerate: TV shows, a syndicated column, magazines, books, even films.

By manipulating religious teachings, Dobson represses his followers with a reactionary societal code: Get married, stay married, procreate and - most important - donate your money to Focus on the Family.

The more his listeners believe, the more easily they can be exploited. That explains why many of those listeners - hardworking middle-class people who are struggling with bills or caring for elderly loved ones - vote against their own interests.

Instead of voting for the party that created the 40-hour work week, workers compensation, and has been pushing for universal health care, they vote for the party of James Dobson: members of Congress who for nine years have refused to increase the minimum wage above $5.15 an hour, yet accept automatic pay raises for themselves each year.

It also explains the hypocritical actions of Dobson and his
multimillion-dollar kingdom.

Focus on the Family Action, the political lobbying arm of FOTF, is helping to bankroll the campaign for Referendum 43, an amendment to the state Constitution that would ban gay marriage, something that is already outlawed in Colorado.

They’re using fear tactics to get people to the polls.

Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst with FOTF, said during a televised debate last week that if gay people are given the right to marry, polygamists will be next. (At least she didn’t equate being gay with bestiality, as did Janet Rowland, the running mate of Colorado gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.)

At the same time, Dobson has defended Republican congressional leaders who knew that former Florida Congressman Mark Foley was sending sexually suggestive messages to minors.

Borrowing from Karl Rove, Dobson uses smoke-and-mirrors to deflect responsibility from those in charge of the Congressional Page Program by blaming Democrats.

In a recent interview with a staffer of his in-house newsletter, Dobson said that Democrats deliberately waited until the last day before the congressional break to leak information about Foley.

“It is the day you would not want something like this to break,” he said. “And they’ve known it for years. They’ve held it for years, and then they threw it out there on the last day of the session demanding that the speaker of the House resign.”

There is no proof that Democrats knew about Foley’s lurid instant messages, but two Republican congressmen, John Boehner of Ohio and Thomas Reynolds of New York, have publicly stated they told House Speaker Dennis Hastert about it months ago.

So wouldn’t a person of strong moral values at least chide Hastert for his inaction?

Nope. Not when you are a puppet master of members of Congress who use the name of God to pass laws that take away civil rights in exchange for campaign contributions and the promise of votes from the flock. A man of real moral values would urge Congress to increase college Pell grants, expand work training programs, and offer struggling working- class families subsidized day care.

Instead, he vilifies gay people as people who are destroying marriage. Dobson talks about having a pro-life agenda, but never speaks out against the deaths of more than 2,700 American troops in Iraq, or against capital punishment, which is really a euphemism for state-sponsored murder.

The sad part is the sheeple don’t see the hypocrisy and don’t realize they’re being used.

Cindy Rodríguez’s column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Read Cindy’s blog at denverpostbloghouse.com/rodriguez. Leave a voice message at 303-954-1211 or e-mail her at crodriguez@denverpost.com