[QUOTE=spence;789665]I could draw endless parallels, but it's easier to say that most substantial change requires some disruption to break a set pattern of behavior.
Which is different from "improving" a grass roots organization.
And the "truth" around lowering taxes is usually expressed in a manner intended to rub resentments. Economic arguments aren't sexy so instead we have the Welfare Queen, inner city people cranking out babies to get deductions, soaking the rich etc...
Arguments don't have to be "sexy" to be effective. Truth can be very effective. Economic arguments without sexiness can be very effective. Speaking about "welfare queens, cranking out babies to get deductions can be true, and if truth rubs resentments, the resenters have a problem.
The idea that negative images are more powerful is as old as the news. Everybody does it, and it has nothing to do with Communism.
Yes, and the news is older than Alinsky. One doesn't have to read his rules to know that. And I never mentioned Communism.
That's your romantic view of what the Tea Party means to you.
That is the view that Tea Partiers have of themselves. At least those that I have met. We have a conservative black radio show here in the Detroit area titled JOSHUA'S TRAIL. It airs on Saturday morning from 8AM to 10AM Saturdays and can be heard on the internet. It has gained a large popularity and a support group "FRIENDS OF JOSHUA'S TRAIL" to help fund its air time. The members have attended many Tea Parties and paint a far different picture of the Tea Party than its detracters.
You're not serious are you?
Listen to any one of Sarah Palin's tweets, watch 5 seconds of Glenn Beck, just about anything Mark Williams says, Sharron Engle's invoking the Second Amendment or the lovely signs that seem to pop up at Tea Party rallies again and again (I know, that media conspiracy)...
Sure they're trying to rally supporters to vote for candidates who support their issues...BY PROVOKING THEM.
How is this a response to my saying that the Tea Party is not trying to use the Alinsky tactic of baiting an OPPONENT into reacting.
And the names you mention are not founders of the Tea Party, nor do they drive its agenda. If anything, the politicians hope to use it to get elected. If they succeed, they had better follow through with their promises.
And "PROVOKING THEM" is Alinskyish lingo. Persuading, with what they believe, would be more accurate.
Ahhh that nefarious divisive tactic of "hope"
Another slippery Alinskyish tactic--insert the word nefarious out of context. I used it referring to your Alinsky quote as a first step in lowering taxes "rub resentments to fan flames and create a mass army of people." I never said hope is nefarious. I didn't refer here to "hope" itself as a tactic, but to tactics that promise hope and CHANGE which divide by implying that an undefined "hope" is possible only through "change." And therefore implying that the current American society is hopeless.
The Tea Party is an attempt to market change to a people set in their ways. Many of those seen as the leadership consistently use divisive and inflammatory rhetoric to provoke those they wish to influence. It is a means to an end.
The Tea Party is not attempting to "market change." It is attempting to PRESERVE our Constitutional Republican form of government. Those "seen" as the leadership are so seen by pundits, not Tea Partiers. The Tea Partiers are the leaders, those seen as leaders are followers--bottom up. The Tea Partiers don't have to be "provoked." They started the "movement" and set the pace.
A valid question could be raised as to why recommend Alynsky when there are less controversial grass roots books on the subject? This as well is covered in the link noting that Alynsky is looked at as the origin of the subject.
He may be "looked" at by some as the origin of the "subject", but he didn't invent the methods. They have been used throughout history. Most effectively in the last hundred years by the Communist and Nazi revolutions. Certainly by religions and there is a striking similarity with Alinsky rules and the tactics of Radical Islam.
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