The weird stuff in Idaho politics is starting to make sense.
For a while it hasn’t. Idaho’s dominant party, measured by candidates elected, has been behaving in ways unrecognizable to long-time party workers. For example:
— A mundane “rules” hearing drew a packed crowd with no opinion about “the rules” but chanting they were there to support their “superstar.”
— A veteran volunteer who carried her party for decades before becoming a legislator was censured publicly by that same party when she “voted her conscience.”
— A handbook process for determining “residency” was ignored in favor of public humiliation tactics.
— One county’s organizational meeting was deemed invalid for a notice using the word “ratify” rather than “vote.” Another county saw emails giving the wrong time to attendees, but when they relied on that time and were 30 minutes late, they were out of luck.
— Successful campaign staff were maligned by their own party’s activists with accusations so obscene and absurd that Facebook pulled the post. Those same activists routinely harass anyone posting opinions unflattering to party leadership.
— A national parliamentary expert observed the party’s semi-annual meeting and was astonished at the lack of decorum and failure to follow proper procedure.
History students might ask if this was Democrats heading to their 1968 Convention. But could these tactics exist in Idaho’s Republican Party? Never!
That is, until now. It recently came to light that one of Idaho’s new party leaders frequently quotes Saul Alinsky. Alinsky gave up a paying job in 1938 to be a non-stop agitator. By 1968, the Chicago-based left-wing rebel had mastered tactics that helped destroy that year’s Democratic National Convention.
His life’s work was summarized in the book “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals,” released one year before his death in 1972.
Alinsky saw politics as only about power, composed of two elements: money and people. Money was a tool of the “haves,” so the “have nots” must learn to manipulate people.
Alinsky’s more insidious observations on manipulating people include the following:
Rule 4: Make the enemy follow rules while you ignore them. According to Alinsky, progressive activists can slaughter conservatives with this tool. “They can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity,” he chided.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. People will commit suicide rather than face ridicule. More importantly, the ridicule should be unearned, unconstructive, and unanswerable since, according to Alinsky, “it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”
Rule 8: Never let up. Change tactics, rotate who does the attacking, but never stop being on the attack. “It is constant pressure that wears them down.”
Rule 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. Until an action occurs, cast every doubt, threaten every extreme, stoke every fear. After the action occurs, do not look back. Move on.
Rule 12: Beware the constructive alternative. Do not let your opponent agree with a problem and ask for your proposed solution. A good problem builds strength, “solutions” suck enthusiasm away.
The introductory page to “Rules for Radicals” ends with this epigraph:
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical ... who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”
The acknowledgement couldn’t be more appropriate.
Alinsky’s tactics work. By lying, cheating, manipulating and enslaving others through fear, immoral people can attain power.
But it is a destructive power only. And those who use it rule over a kingdom of ashes and ruin.
(4) comments
When your party cannot win in a particular state
You simply infiltrate the other party. This Saul
Alinsky lover sounds like an infiltrator.....and so do you.
"So do you?" How so?
Every column it appears that you are bashing Republicans. Don't we get enough of that from
The lefties?
You said it yourself. It is a tactic to invade your opposition's party. I believe that has happened in Idaho but "they" were smart enough to now called themselves "invaders from the left." Instead, they call themselves "the Liberty Caucus," or "the Freedom Crowd," and they sell a mix that is 90% "sound-bite" conservatism mixed with 10% leftist anarchy.
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