Saul Alinsky and Today's Democrats

By Douglas V. Gibbs, Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

Saul Alinsky died over 40 years ago, but his writings continue to influence those in political control of our nation today. The mob violence we saw committed by #blacklivesmatter in major cities, and now at Trump Rallies, are right in line with Alinsky's call for agitation against any opponent of leftism.

Alinsky is revered by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama; both of whom have studied him extensively. The tenets of his beliefs mirror that of Lenin and other communist leaders in modern history. It does not matter to people like Clinton and Obama that the existence of communism has proven not to work. They believe with the right socialists the idea of collectivism will finally work.

The forces of tyranny, today, have two primary targets, both of which preach morality, and individualism. The leaders of the new tyranny are the old vanguards of revolutionary change. They were the ones urging violence, and crying, “Down with the establishment.” They were the anti-war activists, the flower children, and the ones that were most appalled when Joe McCarthy, in the 1950s, targeted a growing communist infiltration that was spreading rapidly through America's political system. These were the people who questioned capitalism, and stood by silently as millions perished under the brutal dictatorships of the communist regimes around the world. As children starved, they said nothing. As those foolish enough to voice dissent were slaughtered, these members of the American Left remained silent. When Americans prospered as a result of their hard work in a thriving free market system, they cried out, “Down with capitalism. Down with greed. Down with profit.” They were the ones that the radicals spoke to. They were the ones that Marxist revolutionaries like Saul Alinsky targeted.

The radical hippies and leftists that decried the American System are now the vanguard of today's establishment. They have completed their takeover of the education system, news media, the entertainment industry, and the mainstream of conventional wisdom as applied to political philosophies. Saul Alinsky has passed the torch to the new generation of American leftists, and they have made leaps and bounds in their efforts. Now, the New Alinsky Radicals have targeted a new generation, the millennials, with their theories of utopia, and collectivism. They are passing the torch, proclaiming as they did in the 1960s and 1970s the dangers of Americanism, and its standard of decadent materialism, the power of the bourgeois, and the unacceptable nature of its values.

The members of today's generation are desperately trying to make some sense out of their lives, and out of the world. They have been taught from birth what the leftists have wanted them to learn. They have been trained by the public school system, entertainment industry, and new media not to trust their parents, especially if those parents adhere to a value structure that is considered to be “republican,” or “Christian.” The materialism of the older generation, they are told, cannot be trusted. It is not in their best interest to seek out a good job, a nice home and automobile, or to seek anything else that they have been told is a sign of success in a free market. In fact, they are being told the opposite by the leftists. Such individualism and self-interest leads to bankruptcy, violence, and an empty life.

In early 2014, when a Congressional Budget Office report indicated that millions of jobs may be lost as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the immediate response from Democrats was not that the reduction of jobs available in the market was a bad thing, but that it was a liberating thing. Less jobs available for the millennials, said the Democrats, was an opportunity of which few generations have the opportunity to experience. The loss of jobs caused by Obamacare would mean freedom for those that lost their employment, the freedom to do as they wished without the bondage of a job to hold them back.

A job is the disillusionment of the good life, as Saul Alinsky would put it.

The Obama Administration, even in their ridiculous response to the CBO report, fell right in line with the teachings of Saul Alinsky, and his Rules for Radicals.

Saul Alinsky, in his prologue for Rules for Radicals, referred to the unbelievable idiocy of our political leadership. He claimed that “in the past political leaders, ranging from the mayors to governors to the White House, were regarded with respect and almost reverence; today they are viewed with contempt. This negativism now extends to all institutions, from the police and the courts to "the system" itself. We are living in a world of mass media which daily exposes society's innate hypocrisy, its contradictions and the apparent failure of almost every facet of our social and political life. The young have seen their "activist" participatory democracy turn into its antithesis—nihilistic bombing and murder. The political panaceas of the past, such as the revolutions in Russia and China, have become the same old stuff under a different name. The search for freedom does not seem to have any road or destination. The young are inundated with a barrage of information and facts so overwhelming that the world has come to seem an utter bedlam, which has them spinning in a frenzy, looking for what man has always looked for from the beginning of time, a way of life that has some meaning or sense. A way of life means a certain degree of order where things have some relationship and can be pieced together into a system that at least provides some clues to what life is about. Men have always yearned for and sought direction by setting up religions, inventing political philosophies, creating scientific systems like Newton's, or formulating ideologies of various kinds. This is what is behind the common cliche, "getting it all together"—despite the realization that all values and factors are relative, fluid, and changing, and that it will be possible to "get it all together" only relatively. The elements will shift and move together just like the changing pattern in a turning kaleidoscope.”

And so, today's political environment, and the culture war that rages in America, is a mirror image of what Saul Alinsky claimed was the world of his day, except in our day and age, when chaos is around every corner, war rages, civil unrest is increasing, and the political system has become more of a joke than anything that can remotely do anything close to what it is authorized to do, is the result of his followers, a result of those that find Saul Alinsky's teachings to be gospel working their way up the ranks, and becoming the powerful ruling elite that Alinsky once chided.

The teachings of Saul Alinsky, and the actions of his disciples, have not made the world a better place, but a place that is a comical caricature of what Alinsky claimed was the result of a capitalistic society. His philosophies did not change the world for the better, but is on the brink of bringing down the greatest nation the world has ever seen. His teachings have brought us to the point of collapse, where American greatness may very well deteriorate into a minor footnote in history, and where the tyrannical forces of the world, without the goodness of America standing in their way, can complete their drive for utopia, for the collectivistic paradise that famed communists theorized about. America is on the verge of extinction, thanks to leftist policies, and a radical political movement in the United States. . .

Just as Saul Alinsky had hoped for.

The simple life has become complicated. Today, everything is incomprehensible, by design. The Affordable Care Act was a mountain of pages that none of the politicians in Washington were willing to read, and of which we were told by then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, that it was perfectly fine that nobody had been willing to read the bill, because “we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.”

In 2013, a record 20% of households were on food stamps as a result of the policies of the disciples of Saul Alinsky. While Alinsky proclaimed that his generation demanded not to live lives as had their families and friends, his proclamation seemed more prophetic, than a rallying cry. The new generation, be it his, or those just coming up now, will not live a life like their family or friends, for the standard has dropped the first time in American History. For the first time parents are not assured their children will live a better life than them. American bankers overseas are leaping to their suicidal death. Youths are going after people with their “knock out” games, causing injury, and sometimes death. Racial division has never been greater in this country, and political division has reached a level of hatred between the parties that both sides are expecting the other to resort to armed violence. The ominous specter of Death is indeed hanging over this nation.

In an effort to be their own person, and do their own thing, the millennials are addicted to technology, unable to hold a conversation without punching in abbreviations for words and phrases. OMG, and BTW have become a part of the language, and in search of individuality, the newest generation has succumbed to yet another societal form of compliance, and indoctrination.

Saul Alinsky stated that to the young, the world seemed like it was falling apart. In today's culture war, both young and old feel like the world is coming apart at the seams. The younger generation only knows that what they are seeing from the hard left in government is not right, but they don't know why. To the older generation, the problem is obvious. The older generation understands.

The old cliché comes to mind. "If you are young and Republican, you have no heart. If you are old and Democrat, you have no brain".

Is it as simple as that?

In youth you are idealistic, seeking change, hoping for solutions to the harsh reality of life. When you are older you realize life is full of storms, and there are two kinds of people when it comes to the storms of life; those that weather the storms, learn from them, and are the better for it; and those that are destroyed by the storms, become bitter, and wither away as a result.

Perhaps, as in the past, this episode of leftism will do a little damage, people will wise up, and we will turn against them in the next election. Perhaps the theory about the 16-year cycle is in play. Maybe, this is just a minor hiccup along the long path of American History.

Except, it has never been this bad. We have never been this close to collapse, and we have never seen someone (like Barack Obama) who is this radical, in the same way that Alinsky was, in the White House.

I have an allegory I like to use about a raft on the Niagra River. Throughout history, as a society, we travel down the Niagra River towards The Great Falls. The person at the front of the big yellow raft changes every so often. Sometimes, we allow our raft to venture closer to the falls than we were before. If we get so close to the falls that the roar of the rushing water tumbling to somewhere below is deafening, we all grab our oars and row away from the falls. We know that someday in the future the raft will go over Niagra Falls, and end the experiment called The United States of America. Nothing lasts forever. We get that. But we don't expect that day to happen on our watch, while we are among the rowers.

On the Niagra River there is a sign that reads, “The Point of No Return.” We are told that once anyone goes beyond that sign, it does not matter how good of a swimmer they are, or how good of a rower they are, or even how good the motor of the boat is, once one passes that sign, the reality of going over the falls is set. There is no chance to turn back. Once a vessel goes past that sign, the only end result will be going over those great falls. The question ceases to be “if?” and becomes “when?”

Today, the raft that represents our blessed country is heading rapidly towards the falls. The man on the front of the raft is an alleged historical president that is telling us everything is all right. “Hear that roar in the distance?” He assures us. “That is the sound of Hope and Change.”

You know these waters. You know where this river leads. You know that the roar in the distance is not hope and change, but the destruction of the raft. You can see the sign, and you can even read the small print underneath.  The sign reads, “The Point of No Return.” The small print underneath reads, “Made in China.” We have not passed the sign, yet. But we are approaching it rapidly, and we are very close to it.

Some may even argue we have long since passed the sign of no return.

The question is, are we going to start rowing? Are we going to do whatever it takes to slow down this raft, and ultimately move it away from the falls, and our destruction? And if we are able to stop this wild ride, and we are able to move away from the falls, and the sign that tells us there is no chance of returning, will we keep rowing, or will we become apathetic again, and allow the river’s current to return us to the point we fought so hard to get away from? Will we keep rowing, and keep enough people rowing, and teach the next generation how to row, or will we be the generation that finally goes over the falls, and witnesses the end of a free America?

Where Saul Alinsky, and his followers, seeks meaning, they totally miss the boat. The founders understood what they were doing, and they found meaning in what they did. A world of tyranny was not an acceptable conclusion. The meaning in their lives was liberty, not only for themselves, but for their posterity. They did not just lay down their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for themselves, but they did so specifically for those who came after them. And they did not do it for selfish reasons, or just because it seemed the right thing to do for themselves, and their posterity, but because it was the Godly thing to do. The founders knew what they were doing, and they trusted they were creating a righteous nation, because the signature of the Hand of Divine Providence was all over their endeavor.

Life is not a destination, but a journey. It is a course of human events, and when in that course of human events it becomes necessary to fight tyranny, it is a right of the people to alter or abolish the source of that tyranny. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is only possible in a free system, a system where individualism and a free market serve as the fulcrum in which that system resides. And only a godly people are capable of such a system, because human nature always turns away from God's laws, seeking power, and domination. Tyranny is the most common form of governance in history because of humanity's nature, and the Founding Fathers understood this. They laid the foundation of our government with this in mind. But, don't be fooled. The tools they had to bring about the dissolution of the political bands they had with the tyranny that oppressed them are available to us today, as well. We, also, are possessors of the tools that bring about liberty, and abolishes tyranny.

We are not generally aware of the tools necessary for turning this country around, and restoring it to its constitutional principles, because we are products of the creeping incrementalism taught to us by the patient Marxist revolutionaries in our schools, our television, and on our radio. We have been convinced that we have no voice, that the powers in charge are our saviors, and that government dependency is all we need. We have been convinced that a General Will exists, and that it is for us to relinquish all of who we are to the ruling elite, so that they may engineer and operate the system in the way they wisely view as best for the collective. However, we have been taught wrong. The tools to restore the republic remain in place, if only we would be willing to use them.

The United States Constitution is the solution, and the tools I speak of are granted to us through that document, and Nature's Law. But we have to be willing wield them. The Constitution, after all, is only ink and paper if we are unwilling to fight for it, and its principles. I am talking counter-revolution. I am telling you that the coup has already happened, and the enemy is not only at the gates, but they have infiltrated all parts of our system. The enemy is in the Halls of Congress, and is sleeping at night in the White House - a house the First Lady claims was built only by slaves.

The saving grace is that the enemy believes they have America. The opposition is on the run, as far as they are concerned. They do not understand our resolve, or our passion. They have tossed the Constitution aside, and our government has become a lawless tyranny that disregards the voice of the people, and abhors what they consider to be an antiquated relic of representative government. They have tossed the rules out the window, and have created their own rules to force us to follow. They use our values and standards against us, and do all they can to ridicule us into silence. They have followed Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, and they have gained control of the establishment as a result. It is time to knock them off their roost. It is time to take America back, using our own rules, rules given to us by the people that established this great nation, and gave us a system that prospered and eventually became the greatest nation ever to exist on the face of the Earth.

Recognize, this is not a task for the timid, or for those who think sitting on their couch and bitching and moaning and groaning without being an activist is somehow a viable strategy.

When the colonists were gunned down in the Boston Massacre, and when they stood their ground on Lexington Green, they were considered radicals. When those patriots threw tea into the Boston Harbor, and dared to declare Independence for the United States of America, they were considered extremist traitors. They understood, and recognized, the features of tyranny, and took appropriate action. They were rebels, they were revolutionaries, and they were radicals. The founders were not the kind of radicals that Saul Alinsky claimed exists, who seek to destroy a system so that it can be rebuilt in a manner chasing the impossible dream of utopia, but radicals in that they dared to stare tyranny in the eye, until they saw the whites of their eyes, and then they did what they had to do – not to create a system where government controls, and people are dependent on the government, but a system where individuality, self-reliance, personal responsibility, innovation, success, property ownership, and the pursuit of happiness were not only words used by colonial revolutionaries, but were concepts encouraged by a government limited in its authorities, and a government absent when the individual worked to chase those concepts. They were radical patriots, as we must be. They were, as the Declaration of Independence says at its conclusion, willing to lay down their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. They knew that it would need to be done again. They saw the tyrants coming. They knew there would be a Karl Marx, a Saul Alinsky, and a Barack Obama. They recognized the folly of human nature, and the tendency to allow tyranny to infiltrate a free system. The founders were problem-solvers, and they were men of action. They expected us to be the same, and they provided us with a rule book.

The tyrants we now face worked inside the system to get where they are. They agitated, and they indoctrinated. They created discontent, and disenchantment through community organization and the careful placement of misinformation. They made sure the people were disillusioned, so that they may gain control. They made sure the people felt hopeless, and they positioned themselves to be the cause of the hopelessness without the people realizing it, and then positioned themselves to be the saviors through government when the people threw up their hands and were seeking salvation. They called it reformation, when it was destruction. They created psychological excuses for their actions, and called the lifestyles of their allies “constitutional rights” and “civil rights” to gain acceptance. They say that change is good, no matter the change, just as long as it is change away from the existing system. They use double-speak, creating chaos and calling it law and order, calling for peace as they wage class-warfare, they encourage us to vote and they say they are a movement for the working people as they ignore the vote and enslave the people, they say our military veterans are terrorists and the terrorists that seek to destroy liberty are simply misunderstood, they claim they are for the working man but call a loss of job freedom from the slavery of work, they criticize the deaths of those in war and electric chairs while slaughtering millions of innocent babies while they still develop in the womb.

The weakness of a free system is not only the presence of a potentially tyrannical central government, but the unwillingness of the people to protect their freedoms. The idea of the American Republic stemmed from the concepts of liberty, opportunity, private property, individualism, access to the free market, the protection of our God-given rights, religious freedom, and the adherence to Nature's Law. Individuality, voluntarily participating, while ensuring one is properly informed, is a group sport, as they say, but if too many members of the group become too fat and lazy in their freedoms, and fall for the enticements of gifts from the federal treasury, as they fail to keep themselves informed of what the system behind their liberty is all about, freedom is at risk. The republic, then, becomes a democracy, and then the tyrants turn it into a tyranny of the majority. Mob-rule.

It was mob-rule that Alinsky was pursuing. Democracy. The word democracy is used throughout his “Rules for Radicals,” not because he believed the progressive rhetoric that we are a democracy, but because in order for America to collapse, and allow his America to rise from the ashes, the United States needed to be a democracy.

In a pure democracy the individual can be used to turn against himself. The rule of law is no longer a concern, because the rule of man is in charge. Working within the system, using democracy to get there, the Alinsky radical gained a position of power, and then worked to eliminate the individual from the equation. The goal is to make irrelevant all remnants of individuality, be it the individual sovereignty of the States, to the ability of the individual to influence their system through a representative government. If the individual can be convinced that their individuality is a danger to their very happiness, they will be willing to relinquish their individualism, and hand over the keys to their pursuit of happiness to the government where a life of mediocrity is preferred. After all, being an individual can be a lot of hard work. Working a job, paying the mortgage, and balancing the checkbook interferes with a life where doing nothing is much easier. The life of mediocrity is taught to be real freedom, and anyone that desires more than a life of mediocrity orchestrated by a government that encourages dependency is greedy, and must be brought down to the level of everyone else. The Alinsky radical calls it equality. Real equality.

True freedom, after all, is actually selfish, according to the Alinsky radical. To be free, Saul Alinsky argues, people must be willing to sacrifice some of their interests so that others can be free, as well. It is a group effort, a collective game of the common good.

The language of the leftist is, as I said earlier, double-speak. Peace is war. Freedom is slavery. Responsibility is not having to be burdened with making decisions for yourself.

The fact is, we always expected the enemy to be at our gates, not inside our government. The communists were on the other side of the globe, and fascists only adorn the pages of our history books. When one does indicate that the enemy is within, they call it conspiracy. The existence of shadow governments, and secret societies, according to the Alynsky-brethren, are in the minds of conspiracy theorists, and cannot be taken seriously. The enemy is in fact residing within our system. We have been infiltrated. But, the enemy needs no black helicopters, manifestos, or gatherings in secret offices where important men smoke large cigars and plan out the future of the world. I am sure those people exist, but the real power is not in the Bilderberg's, or the Illuminatis of the world, but in those that are the true believers of Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky. They don't need to communicate with each other, or send memos to each other. They know what to do. They are community organizers and agitators that nod to each other when they pass each other on the street, yet are not completely sure why they did so. They are the ones that applaud Cass Sunstein in private, cause chaos at rallies for Republican candidates, or truly understand what people like Barack Obama are up to, but does not dare utter a word about it. They are darker than the power brokers, and players in a tragedy that only knows they must extinguish individuality, and promote the power of the totalitarian state – even if that promotion must be done in the most subtle of manners. They seek the opportunity to create chaos, and re-engineer the world into a utopian dream that is as old as civilization.

The revolution has begun, but we did not start it. The coup has already taken place in Washington, and the enemy has gained control of the heart of the republic. They have manipulated and gained full control of the networking lines of communication and halls of education. They have erected an iron curtain, and they have disguised it as the common good. They are darker than the shadows, and crueler than the dungeon keepers. It is these dark followers of people like Saul Alinsky that we battle against, and it is the same purveyors of false utopia that brought down Greece and Rome, and the same enemy that the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution to protect us against. They recognized the enemy, and warned us that if we did not remain informed and vigilant, that it would take a bloody revolution to restore the republic.

We face an enemy as old as humanity, and as dark as Lucifer himself. Now is no time to be timid. Now is the time for action, so that we may send a message to our grandchildren's grandchildren that when their future was on the line, we took action, we were willing to fight the good fight, and we were willing to preserve liberty with our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line.

― Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary