Alinsky & Obama

Recently I finished reading Rules for Revolution, by David Horowitz.* There, Mr. Horowitz discusses to some extent Saul Alinksy's influence on Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton. But his main thesis is identifying some aspects of Alinsky's goal to destroy the United States---as discussed in Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

Alinsky is not a philosopher. He is a political activist who holds the same premises of every collectivist. He believes that the individual and his work belong to the group. He goes farther. He seeks to destroy everything in the name of establishing heaven on earth. In other words, Alinsky is a nihilist.

Ayn Rand identified Herbert Marcuse as the philosopher behind the 1960 uprisings. But unknown to most, including the media, Alinsky was training those who were at the forefront of police-baiting, street riots, campus destructiveness and howling down university speakers. All the while, he successfully stayed in the background during the 1960 upheavals.

Mr. Horowitz reports that Alinsky was the friend and student of the notorious gangster Frank Netti, Al Capone's first lieutenant. Putting to use what he learned from Netti, Alinsky began to organize and train community leaders in Chicago, himself participating in that city's political corruption. Years later, he trained Barack Obama, said to have been his star pupil.

As President, Obama has placed Alinsky followers in key positions, some as "czars," un-elected, un-appointed---and therefore unquestioned through congressional hearings---accountable to no one.

Mr. Obama has flawlessly absorbed Alinsly's teachings, one of which is the technique to never say what you mean, always evade the entire context, never identify your actual goals. As an Alinsky student, for instance, if you bow to a foreign ruler, you know your motive is to belittle the country you represent. But you do not admit that. If you apologize for your country's alleged wrongs, you must ignore the wrongs done to your country. But never admit this. If you criticize a loyal ally, you must never admit you do so to destroy that alliance. Your wife can help out. For instance, if she calls Americans "mean-spirited," she must evade knowledge of their unmatched generosity. If she is proud of your country only because Americans elected Alinsky's student, she must never admit that that is what is meant.

The truth does not matter. Facts do not matter. The only thing that matters is how much you can get away with. You can spend $7,000 "out of your own pocket"---a pocket filled by taxpayers---to buy your children a swing set but express indignation that some executives are paid bonuses for work performed.

You can let your wife and children use Air Force One---a jet owned by the American public---to shop in Paris and go to lunch in London but chastise distinguished American executives for flying in their private jets to a Washington D.C. meeting.

You can encourage hatred of the rich while confiscating middle class wealth. You can agitate distrust between unions and management. You can take over banks and large companies in the name of the employed, while "saving" financial institutions by inflating the currency.

The goal is to destroy trust, to undermine cooperation, to confuse those who like you and to obliterate those who do not. As Alinsky taught: "The issue is not the issue. The issue is the revolution." And the revolution is to polarize Americans, wreck the American economy, reduce the United States to poverty by destroying the rich and giving political power to the "Have Nots." The technique is not original to Alinsky, or Obama.

Consider the murderous havoc of the French Terror, for instance. Or recall the slaughter of millions and the suffering of the Russian people under the Soviet Communists. Remember the Nazi Holocaust. That is what happens when the desire for prosperity is called "greed" and a man's refusal to earn his own way is said to "entitle " him to the worker's paycheck.

Although neither Alinsky nor his student Obama would ever admit it, the refusal to earn your own way is the mark of the "Have Nots;" earning your own way is the mark of the Haves.

What is it the "Haves" have? Money. Property. Where does money and property come from? From economic power. From the power of thought, of ideas, of putting ideas to work, of creating jobs and making money and earning a living.

What is it that the "Have Nots" have not? Political power. What is political power? It is not influence. It is not wealth or others' approval or admiration or a large following ready and willing to do your bidding. The essence of political power is the gun. It is the gun that the "Have Nots" will be given. The power of the gun will physically coerce the "Haves" to obey the "Have Nots" and the "Have Nots" will be ruled by irrationality. The result is heaven on earth.

The destruction of a civilization is not the nuking of many cities. It is a gun in the hands of the thoughtless, which make laws and enforces them.

Whatever happens on November 2, 2010 will indicate whether we have time to re-vitalize the principles and the ideals of our Founding Fathers---or not.

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*David Horowitz will be the speaker at an Albuquerque Tea Party event in May 2010. For details access www.abqteaparty.com