Demonizing the Tea Party the Chicago Way

By Frank Salvato
web posted April 12, 2010

"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself." – Sun Tzu, 6th Century, BC.

One way to tell how effective the Tea Party movement has been is to gauge the severity of the attacks on the movement by its detractors. It is fair and logical to deduce that the more severe the attacks, the more threatened the attackers feel. Judging from the most recent attacks on the Tea Party movement – and because the Progressives and Liberal Democrats are completely invested in "feelings" instead of facts – those opposed to limited government and the constitutional rule of law are feeling quite threatened.

Anyone paying attention to the mainstream news media has noticed a recent uptick in the number of news stories about the Tea Party movement. While media outlets such as FOX News, The Washington Times, BigGovernment.com, NewsMax.com and talk radio portray the Tea Party movement in a favorable light, the "alphabet media," its cable brethren and the Progressive blogs are painting the movement as having emanated from the fringe; a group consisting of a bevy of Timothy McVeigh's on steroids. Truth be told, this isn't because they are grossly ideological in their reporting – although that lends to the zealousness of their actions – as much as it is a coordinated tactic to neuter the power of the Tea Party movement. The Progressive's attacks on the Tea Party movement are straight from Rules for Radicals; they are a textbook Saul Alinsky play...and they are only going to get more vicious as the 2010 and 2012 elections approach.

To give but a brief overview of who Saul Alinsky was, DiscoverTheNetworks.org describes him thusly:

"Born to Russian-Jewish parents in Chicago in 1909, Saul Alinsky was a Communist/Marxist fellow-traveler who helped establish the dual political tactics of confrontation and infiltration that characterized the 1960s and have remained central to all subsequent revolutionary movements in the United States. He never joined the Communist Party but instead became an avatar of the post-modern left.

"Though Alinsky is rightfully understood to have been a leftist, his legacy is more methodological than ideological. He identified a set of very specific rules that ordinary citizens could follow, and tactics that ordinary citizens could employ, as a means of gaining public power. His motto was, 'The most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired results.'"

The culmination of Alinsky's life work comes to us in the form of his book, Rules for Radicals. It is the quintessential handbook for all Progressives and especially for Progressives in politics, advocacy and in government. Hillary Clinton chose to write about Saul Alinsky for her senior thesis at Wellesley College. And Alinsky's own son, L.David Alinsky, said this of Barack Obama after the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

"Barack Obama's training in Chicago by the great community organizers is showing its effectiveness...It is an amazingly powerful format, and the method of my late father always works to get the message out and get the supporters on board. When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well.

"I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday."

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