13 Simple Rules

Or Remembering Saul–and NO this is not a post about some mythical monarch from BC Holy Land but rather the scourge of the Right….Saul Alinsky.

I recall back in ’08 during the election that brought Obama to the highest elected office in the land….there was an uproar over some of Obama’s ‘friends’…..his pastor and some random dude from the ’70’s radical group the Weather Underground…..but the one that got a bunch of play was Saul Alinsky and his book “Rules For Radicals”….a treatise for radicals and rules of civic engagement.

I believe it was that moron that the GOP picked for their VP that had the biggest object to Obama’s association with Alinsky…..Alinsky died in 1972 so the best Obama could do was read his book…..but sorry dipsticks reading the book does not make one a socialist or a communist or a Marxist….basically it makes one well read.

The problem is that the loudest objectors have not read the book….if they had they would not be so verbal for you see the Tea Party actors are basically using rules from “Rules For Radicals” in their dealings with Obama and the Congress……..

Would you like proof?

Here are the 13 rules outlined in Alinsky’s book……..

Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people.

…The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

…the fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

…the fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.

…the sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.

…the seventh rule is: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

…the eighth rule: Keep the pressure on.

…the ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

…The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.

…The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

…The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

The only real winner in using Alinsky’s rules is ideology………..

Ideology has taken over Washington like never before. It explains why Republicans are willing to suffer political blame for the shutdown: It’s all connected to what Robert Samuelson has dubbed “the politics of self-esteem.” Ideologues on either side of the spectrum believe they’re working not for themselves, but for the betterment of the country. That thinking “suggests that you don’t just disagree with your adversaries; you also look down on them as morally inferior.” And “if politics’ subconscious payoff is higher self-esteem, it makes sense not to cooperate at all,” Samuelson notes in the Washington Post. With the shutdown, “tea party types can feel they’ve affirmed their moral courage.” As for the left, those pushing ObamaCare already have health insurance, but they’re on a crusade for those who don’t. “The ACA serves as a platform for them to assert their moral superiority.” And when politics is full of people who consider themselves “true believers,” it becomes even more dysfunctional. Click for Samuelson’s full column.

BTW, the TP is using the book nicely…..but according to past Tea Partyers……..does that make people like Ted Cruz a socialist or a communist or a Marxist?  Obama had read his book and used the tactics in his community organizing efforts and he has been labeled a socialist…..,by that logic….so is the TEA PARTY!

Look In Your Closet There Could Be One Lurking….Waiting!

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