CNY, you pretty much nailed it on the head. Plus tack on the fact that women, youth under 21, and active duty military, national guard, and reserve get to attend Appleseed for free, and no, there ain't much money bein' made at all. Add in all the targets, promotional materials, travel expenses (if we don't have local instructors), and on and on ad nauseaum, and no, t'ain't nobody gettin' rich from Appleseed.
Dionysus, we know that the front page has a lot of rhetoric on it. Fred's Guide to Becoming a Rifleman does as well. Most of that is from the first few months of Appleseed. And yeah, some people may have gotten the "overthrow the government" vibe from previous 'Seeds, and the best thing that I can tell you is that Appleseed has grown, evolved, and improved from those first few months. Myself and several other instructors have also been pushing for us to stop referencing Fred's Guide in our promotional materials for Appleseed, as Fred's website and Appleseed are completely separate entities. Do we believe that Appleseed can help improve our nation, if nothing else than by teaching people about the sacrifices that were made to form this nation? Absolutely. Do we believe that it requires the armed overthrow of our government? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
And if you would prefer, the standard we teach to is 4MOA to 500 meters. That is approximately a 20 inch target. And yes, that is a man sized target. No, it's not politically correct. No, it isn't sugar coating it. Do you ever got to the range and shoot at a silhouette target? Or even an IPSC/IPDA target? Those are man sized and man shaped, and the highest scoring areas are the heart and brain! Does that make you almost a domestic terrorist if you shoot at those targets? Or IPSC/IPDA almost domestic terrorist organizations?
And yes, there are references to a "sinking ship". Tell me, do you think that our nation is in the finest state in its history?
Sorry if I've gotten a bit confrontational here, but you've taken a few quotes from the website and gotten entirely the wrong picture of what Appleseed is.
We want to make our nation a better place. And we believe that we can do so by teaching people the history and heritage that made this nation what it is. That by reminding them of what sacrifices were made to birth our nation, we hope they make smart decisions at the ballot box, in calling or writing their elected representatives, and in the way they treat their neighbors and their community. Yeah, it's a lofty goal. But sometimes you need to have lofty goals in order to accomplish something.