Rules For Radicals Slide Summary For Afp Final

RULES FOR

CONSERVATIVE RADICALS

HOW TO FIGHT TODAY’S

PROGRESSIVE

ESTABLISHMENT

Why Alinsky?

• Would you borrow tactics from Adolph Hitler?

• How did Progressives in America gain power?

--Hillary Clinton!

--Barrack Obama!

--Caesar Chavez!

--The National Education Association!

• Rules for Radicals can become our manual for defeating the Left.

Saul Alinsky’s

Credentials

• Marxist Utopian Malcontent

• Union Trained Bully

• Mafia Mascot

• Unprincipled Opportunist

• Revolutionary Genius!

Alinsky’s A-moral Principles

• The first principle is to have no principles.

• The only objective is the ―general welfare.‖

• The only illegitimate means is the failure to

use whatever means are available.

• People are motivated only by self-interest.

• Morality is a cloak to hide self-interest.

• Truth and justice are always relative and

therefore irrelevant.

Organization is Power

• The sole purpose of organization is power.

• There is no other source of power in

human relations but organization.

• Organizations achieve power by

persuasion, intimidation, law or brute

force.

--‖If we can’t use the power of

persuasion we will use the persuasion of

power! –SEIU’s

Andy Stern.

Revolution Not Evolution

• All societal change comes through

revolution.

• Revolutions must be preceded by a

change of social consciousness.

--People must first be made to feel

frustrated, defeated, lost and hopeless.

• With each revolution, the victors become

the new oppressors and the cycle must

start again.

Dog Eat Dog

• What is a ―controversial issue?‖ (Line

jumpers!)

• ―All life is partisan.‖

• Those who fail to promote their own

interest are passively supporting their

enemies.

• You will never get change without conflict.

• ―Change means movement; movement

means friction.‖

Language Controls Power

• Who are the true Liberals?

• Why do we call Fascists ―Progressives?‖

• What is ―affirmative‖ about Affirmative

Action?

• Why do we refer to a life style

characterized by disease and suicide as

―gay?‖

• Was Che really a ―freedom fighter?‖

War By Other Means

Alinsky agreed--Politics is war by other means.

• Organization is the key to victory.

• But organization also grows out of victory.

--Organization is both the cause and the effect of power.

• Major defeats can fracture morale.

--Do we want to die on this hill?

--Will this help to build the organization?

The Program--Quid pro

Quo• Organizations build around issues.

• No single organization can take on every

issue.

• No two organizations can agree on every

issue.

• So we must unite for mutual support.

--On the Left, Sierra Club, Code

Pink, SEIU, Acorn, Moveon, NAACP etc.

• The ―quid pro quo‖ (the ―Program‖) is the

essence of community organization.

Tactics and Opportunity

• Tactics must be adapted to events.

• Tactics must be based on a realistic

evaluation of opportunities.

• Tactics require imagination.

--Ghandi and passive resistance.

• The essence of any tactic is the reaction it

provokes. (Rosa Parks)

Rule 1 – Power Imagined

• ―Power is not what you have, but what the

enemy thinks you have.‖

--Hiroshima -- Bomb or bust?

Rule 2 – Comfort Zone

• ―Never go outside the experience of your people!‖ (County Commissioners meeting)

--Confusion, fear and collapse.

• But our experience is growing!

--Remember your first rally?

--The next county commissioners meeting!

Rule 3 -- Unfamiliar Turf

• ―Whenever possible, go outside the

experience of the enemy!‖

--The Inchon Landing!

--Health care and town halls!

--‖Al Gore Lies!‖

Rule 4 -- Double Standards

• ―Always make the enemy live up to his

own rules!‖

• Absolute power consists in enforcing a

double standard. Compare…

--Barney Frank’s home prostitution ring

--Larry Craig’s wandering foot

• ―Progressives have ―No enemies on the

Left.‖

• Conservatives eat their young.

Rule 5 -- Laughter the Best

Medicine

• ―Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon!‖

--There is no defense against it.

--Ridicule provokes anger.

--Anger provokes mistakes!

• Bush was portrayed as a dumb cowboy;

Cheney as Darth Vader! It worked!

Rule 6 -- If You’re Not Having

Fun…

• ―A good tactic is one that your people

enjoy!‖

• Before launching an attack you must

ask….

--Can we win?

--Can we enjoy the process or is it a

chore?

--Will it weary our people so that they

become disheartened?

--Are our tactics growing the

Rule 7 -- Don’t Be A Drag!

• ―A tactic that drags too long is a drag!‖

• To be effective, a tactic must be focused.

• There must be a clear time line and

realistic objective.

• You must know in advance what you are

willing to accept as victory.

• The Left employs ―Incrementalism!‖

(National Monuments)

Rule 8 -- Pressure!

• Once a tactic has been selected and a

target identified, bring all possible

resources to bear!

• Once engaged, keep the pressure on!

• ―Pressure is most effective when it is

focused, relentless, and seems to be

unending.‖

• Avoid terminal tactics! Retain the seeds of

controversy! Demand the impossible!

(The Jackson-Sharpton shakedown)

Alinsky’s Rule 9 – The Threat

• ―The threat you imagined is usually more

terrible than the thing itself.‖ (―Outing!‖)

• All successful negotiation is by extortion.

• There is no such thing as ―good will.‖

• Negative campaigning is ―conflict

resolution.‖

• Blackmail your enemies when

possible, but

• Never bluff!

Rule 10 -- The Value of

Pressure• ―The major premise for attacks is the

development of operations that will

maintain a constant pressure on the

opposition.‖

• Pressure arises out of conflict.

• The stress of pressure causes mistakes.

• Mistakes create opportunities.

--‖Tea Baggers‖ on ―Astro-turf!‖

--‖Granny has joined the mob!‖

Rule 11 -- The Dark Side

(of a Negative)

• ―If you push a negative hard and deep

enough, it will break into its counter side.‖

--Fire hoses and police dogs. (Civil

Rights)

--Passive resistance. (Where to sit!)

--The party of ―No!‖ (Yankee Doodle!)

Rule 12 -- Constructive

Alternatives

• ―The price of a successful attack is a

constructive alternative!‖

• Make extreme demands!

--But plan to compromise!

--If all your demands are met--

catastrophe!

--Partial concessions leave the door

open to more demands. (Vouchers)

The Essential Rule

Number13• ―Pick the target, freeze it, personalize

it, and polarize it!‖

--What is your grievance?

--Who is responsible for it?

--(Whenever possible, name an

individual!)

--Is the responsible party vulnerable?

--How can we isolate this target?

Get Personal!• Alinsky taught that ―People hurt sooner than

institutions.‖

• Forget ―the commissioners!‖ Go after the offending individual—by name!

• Attack on every level.

--Character

--Motive

--Skeletons in the closet

--Back waxing! (Florida’s Crist against Marco Rubio)

• Ignore distractions. Stay focused on the target!

POLARIZATION

• Polarize the target!

• Isolate it and pin it down, as if…

--Your cause is 100% right and just.

--The enemy is 100% wrong and evil.

• ―Let nothing get you off your target!‖

• The object (for Alinsky) was to destroy, not to convince!

Morals and Qualms

• But what about our moral principles!

• Progressives are engaged in gradualtreason!

--They are eroding our Constitution.

• We must avoid moral equivalence!

--The burglar has no claim on his lost wallet!

• We must face reality! This is a life and death struggle for the lives of our children!

• ―Last guys don’t finish nice!‖ – Saul Alinsky