Alinsky Factor

Have you ever heard of Saul Alinsky? Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck seem to think that he had some influence on Barak Obama and his advisers. Not being one to take someone else's word on it, I wanted to find out for myself. As luck would have it, Barnes and Noble had one copy of "Rules for Radicals" on the shelf, so I spent the evening enlightening myself. What I found cost me several hours of sleep last night. I should have just got up and written this blog instead of just lying there stewing about it. Pretty sobering stuff, because now I have a better idea of what is going on and how we got there.

Saul Alinsky wrote the book on community organizing, literally. "Rules for Radicals" was published in 1971, one year before he died. In the book, he enumerates all the principles of the process of being an effective community organizer. Although the book is a veritable textbook with a lot of details, I will dwell on just a couple of points, and how they relate to the current administration. There is quite a bit about "ends justifying the means", which in effect means that if you have identified your goal, you must do and say anything necessary to achieve it. Remember that Candidate Obama promised that 95% of the citizens would not have their taxes raised. Remember that he said that lobbyists would have no influence in his administration. I could go on and on, but the point is that he was deliberately making such misleading statements with the sole purpose of winning the election. He would deal with the truth after he was in the White House. Another point is that the organizer must identify and attack an enemy that is mistreating an underprivileged segment of society. Remember how Obama successfully portrayed the rich as oppressors and should therefore pay all the taxes. Remember how he in turn named big business, the oil companies, Wall Street executives, and now the insurance companies as the villains who must be brought down. It is important to portray the enemy as 100% bad and your solution as 100% good. This sort of cuts the idea of compromise out of the deal, doesn't it?

Alinsky had this to say about dealing with an enemy. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. The treatment of Sarah Palin stands out in my mind. Here was a person who had done all the right things in her life, and actually had a great resume to present to the American people. The hatchet job that Obama and his minions pulled on her and her family was absolutely complete and absolutely devastating. The army of lawyers and reporters that Obama sent up to Alaska found absolutely nothing against her, but the ruthlessness of the onslaught had the desired effect. Every liberal friend I have cannot stand her, and even my ex-wife in Germany hates her. Joe the Plumber also fell prey to the Obama machine just because he asked an embarrassing question.

Why am I making such a fuss about this? Mainly, I am concerned that the president we now have has been so obviously influenced by this man, who calls himself a community organizer, but in my day would have been called a "Rabble Rouser". I remind all of you that Obama's civilian career is listed as a "Communty Organizer". After reading the book, this seems to me to be a pretty scary recommendation. But don't just take my word for it. You should all read the book for yourself and make up your own mind. At least, Google "Saul Alinsky" on the internet and read what you find there. Not that I'm trying to imply anything specific, but it would not be the first time that a radical wrote a book that influenced a country to adopt a whole new system of government. "A Communist Manifesto" and "Mein Kampf" come to mind.