Saul Alinsky comes to Texas.

saul alinsky

Listen To You Tell Me Texas Friday 8/22/14

Download

Not long before his death in 1971, Saul Alinsky wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. Alinsky called himself a “community organizer,” the same title once claimed by Barack Obama.

Like Obama, Alinsky hailed from Chicago. Rules for Radicals was intended as a primer for counterculture-era organizers. The book springs from the premise that established institutions and cultural norms stand in opposition to racial, political and social justice. Thus such institutions and cultural norms are fair game.

Rules for Radicals comes to mind as we contemplate the malicious prosecution of Governor Rick Perry.

If you somehow missed it, Gov. Perry has been indicted by a Travis County grand jury for abusing the power of his office. The indictment comes as a result of a case filed by a special prosecutor. That special prosecutor was appointed as a result of a complaint filed by the liberal group Texans for Public Justice. TPJ has a history of targeting Republicans for prosecution.

The facts of this case, including the DWI conviction of Travus County district attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, are well-known. We laid out those facts earlier this week here.

For the sake of space, let’s let it suffice that the case against Rick Perry is a crock.

In the case of Gov. Perry, rule no. 12 from Rules for Radicals can be seen in full operation. The rule states:

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it. Go after people and not institutions. People hurt faster than institutions.”

Politics has always been a blood sport but with the introduction of previously counterculture tactics to mainstream politics, one can’t help feeling that a line has been crossed from which there may be no possible return.

The indictment of Rick Perry is disturbing not because of the impact it will have on Rick Perry. (The argument can actually be made that the Democrats have overplayed their hand and that Perry will emerge even stronger.)

The indictment is disturbing because of the realization that the left – emboldened by the success of the Alinsky-style Chicago politics practiced by Barack Obama – no longer feels the need to even make a pretense of legal or moral propriety.

This speaks to a troubling devolution in the American political process. Not long ago, propriety dictated that you couldn’t accuse a political opponent of a crime without some bits and pieces that could at least momentarily pass as evidence of an actual crime.

But now, as the Perry prosecution clearly reveals, a criminal case against a political opponent need not have any more substance to it than that of a TV attack ad. In the hands of a prosecutor so inclined, criminal prosecution is just another political weapon.

Rick Perry is a successful, popular conservative governor of a deeply red state. He has possible presidential aspirations. This is simply intolerable to the current generation of Texas Democrats. Thus, under Alinksy rules, anything goes. Nothing is out of bounds.

Such would have been intolerable to Texas Democrats like Lloyd Bentsen, William Hobby and Bob Bullock. But those gentlemen are long gone along with the personal and political ethics they embraced.

It’s Saul Alinsky-style ethics that now guide Texas Democrats.

Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. pk says:

    “Rules for Radicals” has a dedication “to the devil; a community organizer with His own Kingdom”.

    Anyone operating out of this book MUST examine this with tremendous foresight if he wants to take any advice of this publication.

    Is there some unforeseen consequence to following this path???

    Hmmm.

  2. Barack Obama set the standard for political behavior such as that directed against Gov. Perry. Obama and his breed of Democrat are dangerous because they respect neither law nor tradition in their drive to transform America.

  3. pk says:

    PS. Lying is OK here in this book because it is a “means to an end”.

    I suggest everyone get this book & a copy of the Koran to see where these people are going.

    Amazon has both.

  4. Anti-Abbott says:

    Greg Abbott is a big liar. He and Rick Perry did nothing to prevent many Texans from losing the pre-2014 Health Insurance plans. So Greg Abbott the big mouth who went to court did nothing beyond the court room.

  5. Anti-Abbott says:

    Also the birthers are radicals of the extreme who have taken over the Texas GOP. Many of their candidates are way out of touch in the GOP.

  6. Linda E. Montrose says:

    This whole system as we now have it has been in the works for decades through our institutes of higher learning. Radicals such as alinsky were positioned in these institutions to brainwash the next generation and those that follow. Allowing communist sympathizers to teach in our higher education institutes starting back as far as the late forties and early fifties has lead to what we are experiencing today. Infiltrate and destroy…exactly what obama, or whomever he REALLY is, has done! The sad part about it, no one has the balls to do anything about it! They rather sit back and watch this country be completely destroyed…seems like alinsky has won!

  7. pk says:

    Linda, you are so right.
    Thank you,
    PK

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *