Followers of Alinsky run the White House these days. The prior tenants were followers of Jesus. Followers of liberty need not apply.
From: Jane Stilwell Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 1:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Libertarian] "Selfish" libertarians...Good job!!! She tried to divert you from the issue (constitutionality of taxes) by attacking you personally...you handled that very well...my daughter accuses me of being a liar if I disagree with her, instead of dealing with the subject/issue (my counter is to say: "Accusing me of lying is a personal attach, please answer the question.")...Here are the Alinsky tactics for anyone who needs a reminder on how to construct an answer to these 90-degree diversion tactics: 1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." 2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat.... [and] the collapse of communication. 3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.) 4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity." 5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage." 6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." 7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time...." 8. "Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose." 9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." 10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign." 11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside... every positive has its negative." 12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." 13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and 'frozen.'... "...any target can always say, 'Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?' When your 'freeze the target,' you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments.... Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the 'others' come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target...' "One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other." (pps.127-134) ________________________________ Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: "Known as the 'father of modern American radicalism,' Saul D. Alinsky (1909-1972) developed strategies and tactics that take the enormous, unfocused emotional energy of grassroots groups and transform it into effective anti-government and anti-corporate activism. ... Some of these rules are ruthless, but they work." ________________________________ From: sasan.sadat <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 2:54:58 PM Subject: [Libertarian] "Selfish" libertarians I recently had a spirited debate with one of my friends in which she asserted that I was "selfish" for not wanting to pay taxes. My response was this: "Call me selfish if you want to, but at least I'm not the one forcing my will onto others at gunpoint. Which is worse?" She responded "it's not 'force' as long as the majority agrees." I asked her "why?". She couldn't answer me. Checkmate. ---Sasan [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
