Part of the deilcious irony is that, knowingly or not, the Tea Party (and Rush himself) follow Alinksy’s ‘Rules for Radicals’, and with great effect. In particular the ones such as
- Power is not only what you have, but what the target thinks you have.
-. Never go outside the expertise of your people. Feeling secure stiffens the backbone.
- Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the target. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety, and uncertainty.
- Make the target live up to its own book of rules. If the rule is that every letter or E-mail gets a reply, send thousands.
- Ridicule, especially against organizational leaders, is a potent weapon. There’s no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force concessions.
- A good tactic is one your people enjoy. They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’ll even suggest better ones.
- Keep the pressure on. Never let up. Keep trying new tactics to keep the opposition off balance. As the target masters one approach, hit them with something new.
- Pick the target. Target an individual, personalize the attack, polarize and demoralize his/her supporters. Go after people, not institutions. Hurting, harassing, and humiliating individuals, especially leaders, causes more rapid organizational change.
I am sometimes reminded of the great line in the movie ‘Patton’ wherein George C Scott shouts out “Rommel, you Son of a Bitch, I read your book!”
I love this one. You gotta admit that Alinsky guy had some pretty good ideas.