I have been reading Saul Alinsky's book on Rules for Radicals. Alinsky is alleged, by some, to be the historical and intellectual leader of the community organizers of today including the current President. It was thus worth the effort to see what the man had said. The book was written in 1971, which was a time of significant cultural change.
Alinsky in his rules on Tactics lays out thirteen rules of power tactics. It is an interesting exercise to state them and see how they are reflected in the current political environment, by both sides.
1: Power is not only what you have but what your enemy thinks you have.
The number of "tea bag" marchers is but the tip of the iceberg. Telegraphing a larger number of people is critical. The enemy must recognize it and try to discount it.
2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
This is a critical dictum. Using large groups is a risky business, especially if you do not know what their full experience is. You may try to keep them in your intended and assumed experience base but somehow they bring their own to the table as well. Thus violence and racism and the like could come to the fore.
3: Whenever possible go outside the experience of the enemy.
This may mean bringing to the enemy the tactics which they found useful when they were in the position of the new minority. It does work in reverse.
4: Make the enemy live up to their own rules.
The Democrats always did this to the Republicans. When the pas President spoke in Congress a mass of vocal opposition erupted and there was no consequence and when one voice shouts out at the current President there is mass uproar. Make the "enemy" live up to their own standards. The corollary is that if you have no standards you can never be expected to live up to them.
5: Ridicule is man's most important weapon.
Just look at MSNBC and FOX! Both sides use it, it wears thin after a while.
6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy.
Yes, have a mass meeting with free lunch and rock music.
7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
8: Keep the pressure on.
9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.
This is a good one, it means that the threat is in the mind of the receiver. We see this all of the time in politics.
10: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure on the opposition.
This seems best achieved by having your captive cable channel.
11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through the counterside.
Alinsky interprets this in an interesting way. He tells the tale of putting pressure on an organization which makes them take illegal actions by breaking and entering. He gets his enemy to do something wrong and then pounces on the advantage. Had Nixon only read Alinsky he might have finished his term. The tactic is to get the enemy to react in a manner that sets them up as the "bad guy", even to the extent of having them commit a "crime". Then come in and take advantage. This works if the "crime" is not too bad.
12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
This is the risk the Republicans have in the health care debate. They must have the counter proposal, something which when the public option is dead they get to offer their and not accept what is proposed. The Alinsky tactic of power number 12 is a perceptive step in taking the high ground.
13: Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
This last one seems to be what has happened with the recent Van Jones affair. A typical community organizer had the tactics of Alinsky used brilliantly against him. Anyone familiar with the Vietnam War can see the advantage of being the under dog, knowing the land, having flexibility and targeting one after the other.
Reading through these rules is akin to that moment in the film Patton where George C Scott as Patton shouts, about Rommel, "I read your book!"
Alinsky in his rules on Tactics lays out thirteen rules of power tactics. It is an interesting exercise to state them and see how they are reflected in the current political environment, by both sides.
1: Power is not only what you have but what your enemy thinks you have.
The number of "tea bag" marchers is but the tip of the iceberg. Telegraphing a larger number of people is critical. The enemy must recognize it and try to discount it.
2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
This is a critical dictum. Using large groups is a risky business, especially if you do not know what their full experience is. You may try to keep them in your intended and assumed experience base but somehow they bring their own to the table as well. Thus violence and racism and the like could come to the fore.
3: Whenever possible go outside the experience of the enemy.
This may mean bringing to the enemy the tactics which they found useful when they were in the position of the new minority. It does work in reverse.
4: Make the enemy live up to their own rules.
The Democrats always did this to the Republicans. When the pas President spoke in Congress a mass of vocal opposition erupted and there was no consequence and when one voice shouts out at the current President there is mass uproar. Make the "enemy" live up to their own standards. The corollary is that if you have no standards you can never be expected to live up to them.
5: Ridicule is man's most important weapon.
Just look at MSNBC and FOX! Both sides use it, it wears thin after a while.
6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy.
Yes, have a mass meeting with free lunch and rock music.
7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
8: Keep the pressure on.
9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.
This is a good one, it means that the threat is in the mind of the receiver. We see this all of the time in politics.
10: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure on the opposition.
This seems best achieved by having your captive cable channel.
11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through the counterside.
Alinsky interprets this in an interesting way. He tells the tale of putting pressure on an organization which makes them take illegal actions by breaking and entering. He gets his enemy to do something wrong and then pounces on the advantage. Had Nixon only read Alinsky he might have finished his term. The tactic is to get the enemy to react in a manner that sets them up as the "bad guy", even to the extent of having them commit a "crime". Then come in and take advantage. This works if the "crime" is not too bad.
12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
This is the risk the Republicans have in the health care debate. They must have the counter proposal, something which when the public option is dead they get to offer their and not accept what is proposed. The Alinsky tactic of power number 12 is a perceptive step in taking the high ground.
13: Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
This last one seems to be what has happened with the recent Van Jones affair. A typical community organizer had the tactics of Alinsky used brilliantly against him. Anyone familiar with the Vietnam War can see the advantage of being the under dog, knowing the land, having flexibility and targeting one after the other.
Reading through these rules is akin to that moment in the film Patton where George C Scott as Patton shouts, about Rommel, "I read your book!"
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