Saul Alinsky's rules for radicals
09 Feb '14 14:05As most of us know, Saul Alinsky was a Marxist radical who wished to promote political change. And as we all know, he is linked to Obama because he too was a community organizer in Chicago and is someone that Obama was familiar with and studied. However, are the charges that Obama follows in his footsteps valid? The best way to find out is to present the rules for radicals and then try to see if Obama seems to be following them.
1. Always remember the first rule of power tactics. Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.
2. Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
3. Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you will have held what he perceives to be the power.
4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.
5. The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule; Ridicule is a man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counter attack ridicule. Also, it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.
6. A good tactic is one that people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.
7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sundays.
8. Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purposes.
9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the opposition that are essential for success of the campaign.
11. If you push a negative hard enough and deep enough, it will break through into its counter side; this is based on the principle that every positive has a negative.
12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying, "You're right, we don't know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us."
1. Always remember the first rule of power tactics. Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.
2. Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
3. Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you will have held what he perceives to be the power.
4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.
5. The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule; Ridicule is a man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counter attack ridicule. Also, it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.
6. A good tactic is one that people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.
7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sundays.
8. Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purposes.
9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the opposition that are essential for success of the campaign.
11. If you push a negative hard enough and deep enough, it will break through into its counter side; this is based on the principle that every positive has a negative.
12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying, "You're right, we don't know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us."
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