Why I Love Saul Alinsky

I don't remember where I got it, but the book "Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky has sat on my bookshelf for years. Alinksy got my attention during the Obama years and Hillary's run for president. Right-wingers connected Alinsky with Obama and Hillary as if that were a bad thing.

Alinsky was a famous community organizer during the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Indeed, his books and training programs did have a strong influence on Obama, who was also a community organizer in Chicago two decades later. And, indeed, Hillary wrote her senior year thesis on Alinsky and even met him a couple of times.

Right-wingers like Ben Carson, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck regularly used Alinsky to smear Obama and Hillary. Hey, with a book titled "Rules for Radicals," it was easy to try and frame Obama and Hillary as radical politicians and outside the American mainstream.

Alinsky WAS a radical, but what's wrong with that? He was a left-winger, but claims that he was a Marxist or Communist are unfounded. And, anyway, what's wrong with that? Marxists follow the teaching of Karl Marx and communists believe in communal living and sharing. Jesus was the first communist and even though cruel dictators have greatly distorted the ideals of communism, it remains a pure and noble idea. However, humans are such selfish and greedy bastards an economic system based on sharing could never work and we now have capitalism instead.

This brings us back to the point of Alinsky's goal, which was to take a little of the power back from the capitalistic establishment and give it to the poor and working class. Small wonder that capitalists and their spokespersons hate him. Why? Because the capitalists want it all. By nature they only want to give enough back to prevent civil unrest and then they horde all the wealth and power.

Alinsky died in 1972 but there are many articles and interviews that provide a glimpse into who he was. I watched Alinsky's famous 1967 interview with William F. Buckley Jr. and I can tell you that the man was fearless and totally at peace with his convictions. He could also handle criticism, unlike the current pansy living in the White House.

Alinsky operated the Industrial Areas Foundation, which, upon invitation, would go into an area and organize poor communities and help them obtain more rights and benefits from politicians, landlords, and business leaders. Even to this day right-wing organizations call this "creating dependence," but I call it "taking a small piece of the pie from a corrupt system that controls everything."

Some of his most notable accomplishments took place in his home town of Chicago and in Rochester, New York. Among his achievements in Rochester was getting Eastman Kodak to commit to a recruitment and training program to help black employment.

Helping the poor and working class is an honorable cause and I appreciate the work that Alinsky did. Known as "the father of community organizing," much of his methodology is still used today by both the Left and Right.

The Art of Organizing

When I was an organizer for the Sierra Club I was given a beautiful handbook called the Grassroots Organizing Training Manual and I also attended the Club's Training Academy. The entire core of our training was built around the campaign matrix, where we listed allies, stakeholders, and various methods for educating and influencing decision makers. At the training camp I even did mock TV press interviews. On our campaigns we would spend time determining who knows who and what group can influence another group.

A big part of Sierra Club organizing is building broad coalitions, often among diverse and unexpected groups. For instance in the Sierra Club I have worked with labor unions, hunters, and even the local Tea Party. Alinsky would do the same thing and would bring together churches, labor groups, and local community leaders to work for common goals.

Even among the liberal community there is controversy about Alinsky and his work. All I can say is that no one leader in history is perfect. You have to acknowledge the fact that people are flawed and you need to look at their intent and the overall good they contributed to society. For instance, my greatest hero is Teddy Roosevelt and some of the things he did or didn't do trouble me, but ultimately he set the standard for political progressivism and modern environmentalism. Every day I try to live by his ideals.

And, if I may digress, I'd like to talk about the second most famous community organizer, who was Cesar Chavez, the founder of United Farm Workers.  Chavez once said,  "The only way I know how to organize is to talk with one person, then talk to another person, then talk to another." And another one of his famous quotes: "If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart." These statements point to the most effective way to organize — getting to know your opposition, building relationships, and listening to what the other side has to say.

Setting the Standard

I have learned that if overweight conservative white men hate something or someone, then that thing is always good. Right now the right-wing middle aged men are going after Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Nancy Pelosi — three incredible courageous women. So, a few years ago when the privileged white dudes were raging against Alinsky, well, that means he must have been a saint. They claim that Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer, which is a typical right-wing lie. However, Alinsky did have an admiration for Lucifer, who he said was history's first radical. After all, Lucifer organized a group of rouge angels and rebelled against the heavenly establishment. In the end, Lucifer won his own kingdom, making him a darn good organizer.

Conclusion

Alinsky was fighting for the rights of underclasses back in the 1970s. Since that time more wealth has trickled to the top and billionaires and millionaires are now controlling our government and are holding many political positions. The Republican Party has turned into the haven of old, greedy, rich, white men. They manipulate the naive Christian evangelicals with the abortion issue to get their votes. But billionaires couldn't care less about abortion, they only care about accumulating more power and money. If activists and organizers like Alinsky can pinprick the establishment and win a few crumbs for the poor then he and others like him deserve praise.

And, once again, I must point out the irony of Christian evangelicals denying the Theory of Evolution yet supporting it in the form of American capitalism. Our economic system is built around a vicious form of social evolution that rewards the strong and, if unchallenged by people like Alinsky, would leave the poor to die.

The following quote by Alinsky describes me in my current phase of life:

"Once you accept your own death, all of a sudden you're free to live. You no longer care about your reputation. You no longer care except so far as your life can be used tactically to promote a cause you believe in."

— SAUL ALINSKY

Sources:

Hillary Haters’ Fixation on Saul Alinsky by Peter Dreier, The American Prospect

Who is Saul Alinsky and Why Does the Right Hate Him So Much, Vox

The Problem With Saul Alinsky, by Aaron Petcoff, Jacobin

Alinsky Photo Credit: By Pierre869856 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Top Photo Credit: The Climate Reality Project

Diary of a Madman

The voices in my head are constantly shouting and driving me to the brink of insanity. Each week I try to write down what they are saying in the hopes that I may help some future civilization.

I often think of the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs and how their mighty empires failed. Droughts and wars all took their toll. Then came the Spanish with their better weapons, but it was the Spanish soldier with smallpox who really finished off these indigenous societies. As for the Aztecs, all the thousands of human sacrifices didn't help them – it turns out that their god didn't really care. And, really, shouldn't they have gotten a clue? If you murder thousands of people to make your god happy isn't that going to hurt the economy? In modern America we no longer sacrifice human bodies — just human brains.

So, what is to become of the American empire? The disconnect from reality and the obsession of living for the present at the expense of the future are the two things that will do us in. We made it through the Civil War and Great Depression but I'm not sure we'll make it through the Debt Collapse and Climate Change.

Half of Americans don't even bother to vote and even less read, especially blogs. So, it's good knowing that I can say whatever I want, knowing that aliens or the next iteration of humanity are the only ones who will read my rambling thoughts.

So, to all my future readers, allow me to share some of my thoughts for this week:

Evolution, Intelligent Design & Climate Change

Oh, honey, please. How many times do I have to hear that evolution "is just a theory." In science, the word "theory" has a completely different meaning. A scientific theory is an explanation of the natural world that can be repeatedly confirmed or replicated by experimentation. Evolution has been repeatedly confirmed by many scientists over many decades. It's hard fact.

Intelligent design is something that Christian apologists completely made up to counter the growing evidence of evolution. There is not an iota of proof of intelligent design anywhere in nature. It's just an attempt to make the more intellectual Christians feel better.

And as for Climate Change denial, evolution denial, and general science denial, I would ask a simple question: Why are you believing some superstitious, Late Bronze Age, Hebrew goat farmers over hundreds of scientists, historians, and archeologists? When the Hebrews invented the current god they didn't even have the creativity to create one from scratch. Instead, they borrowed the war god Yahweh from their neighbors, the Canaanites.

No matter how much evidence I provide or how much debating I do, I know that I can never convince anyone to change their mind. Once a story is deeply embedded into most people they are unable to change.

Trump is Doing A Great Job

Granted, Trump put two conservative justices on the Supreme Court but other than that he has done absolutely NOTHING but Tweet a lot and create drama. When pro-Trump supporters tell me about how well the stock market is doing they are suddenly quiet when it takes a dip. When they tell me how well the economy is doing they don't mention the record monthly deficits that our government is racking up, caused in part by the huge tax cut for corporations. Granted, once Democrats return to power the Republicans will scream about the deficit nonstop. The only thing I've ever liked about Republicans is their fiscal responsibility, and they've even screwed that up. So, when a conservative tells me that "Trump is doing a great job" I know this is more about supporting the Trump cult more than anything else.

Brexit and Boris Johnson

Who is this Boris Johnson guy? First there was Trump in the U.S., then Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and now we have Boris Johnson in the U.K. What we are witnessing is a worldwide reactionary backlash to globalization and the human population explosion.

First, let me say that you cannot escape globalization. You can build walls and stop immigration but you are only buying time. You can build a wall around your country and isolate yourself but it won't work in the long run.

World population was 3 billion in 1960 and is now about to hit 8 billion. Humans are multiplying wildly and that is what's causing so much social disruption and environmental damage, which, in turn, causes more social disruption. People are scared by all the negative changes, caused by their own runaway birthing, and they turn to leaders who promise good things now, with no regard for the future, which is on a downward spiral anyway. These right-wing leaders assure the people that they can live in their Pollyanna, make-believe worlds while everything crumbles around them. But yet it's only temporary, and the anti-environmental policies of these leaders only brings things to a faster crash. Although I did hear Boris Johnson say he plans to address climate change, at least.

Decision Making

Our human society is where it's at now as a result of poor decisions. Major decisions are often made to favor immediate comfort over long-term wellbeing. In my own life I can see how my bad decisions have gotten me to my current position of being broke and single. There were decisions I put off because I didn't want to deal with them. In other cases, I made bad decisions because I didn't have all of the facts. Other times I acted impetuously. The same can be said for decisions made by our government and society as a whole. It's imperative that we have a U.S. Congress that is willing to make hard decisions rather than continually "kicking the can down the road." The two most critical issues facing us are the federal deficit and climate change. We need political leaders who will take courageous action instead of obsessing with reelection and oiling the squeaky wheels of their constituency, such as those fear-driven, paranoid NRA members.

Conclusion

My brain is full of thoughts, day and night. I daydream and think about the things I want most — good relationships, including romantic, and financial stability. And good health, and solid goals in life that I can work toward. I want it all, baby. But what I really want is to survive because that desire has been drilled into me through a billion years of evolution. I want to live. I want to be happy.

As far as long-term vision goes, I want to see a world where we respect nature, wildlife, and each other. I want to see the all-consuming rat race to make a buck come to an end. We all need to adopt a simplistic lifestyle and recover from our addiction to materialism.

Most importantly, we need to achieve sustainability both socially and environmentally. It's interesting that all the cold-weather nations seem to be so much more stable and sustainable. Perhaps because their populations are small, few people what to emigrate to these countries, and they are less religious. Certainly, they provide a blueprint for the rest of the world.


  Photo: Kelly Sikkema