Hoisting Them on their Own Petards

Thomas Lifson of the American Thinker is noticing a growing trend within conservative ranks – the embracing of Alinsyite tactics in dealing with the Socialist left. Some of us have been doing it for awhile – it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when, but I know I personally, have had no problem using ridicule as a potent weapon against ridiculous lefties. It’s especially gratifying when used against thin skinned narcissists – (not mentioning any names.)

Following Alinsky’s rules would seem counter-intuitive for people with moral scruples – Saul Alinsky was an evil man with evil intent. Conservatives have no interest in accumulating “Power — not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have”, for instance. Yet power is the main motivator for the left. Democrats don’t care a whit about the fiscal cliff –  they may pretend that they do, but tax increases on millions of Americans and the weakening of the nation’s defenses are desirable outcomes to the Alinsky left that drives today’s Democrat party.

As Timothy C. Daughtry wrote today in Defense of John Boehner:

Why would hardened leftists try to avoid an end that they have been pursuing for decades?

And it is pointless to try to convince hardcore leftists that increasing taxes on productivity not only weakens the economy, but also reduces tax revenues.  We can assume that Obama and his advisers already know the well-established evidence of the last century in that regard.  For the left, the real agenda is increasing the reach of government into the lives of its subjects, not growing the economy.

Everything is about power with the totalitarian left – how to accumulate it – and how to keep it.

Conservatives, on the other hand,  are only playing defense. They want what’s best for everybody – which means more freedom, more economic opportunities and less government control over their lives. That’s why conservatives like John Hawkins have embraced Alinsky’s tactics and encouraged others to use them in order to beat back the Socialist tide.

Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, everyone on the Left from the President on down is playing by his rules in the political arena. Not all liberals have read his book or know his name, but his tactics have become universal. Sadly for conservatives, when two evenly matched forces go head-to-head outside of a fairy tale, the side that tries to play nice usually ends up with its head in a box. So, don’t lie or become an evil person like Alinsky, but learn from what he wrote and give the Left a taste of its own medicine.

Michael Walsh, the author of Rules for Conservative Radicals explained why the right so often underestimates the nature of their political opponents in this FrontPageMagazine interview.

Walsh: Because it is has lost one very fundamental animating principle — or, rather, it has allowed the Left to browbeat it to death.  I speak of course of the existence of evil.  Western civilization, for all its imperfections (which the Left is only to happy to point out a la Alinsky’s rule of making the enemy live up to its own highest ideals), triumphed because of its moral center.  It was that moral center that gave rise to the art, music, literature, philosophy and technology that propelled Western European civilization past its rivals.  For some reason, the Left feels compelled to destroy that civilization and I must say it’s doing a fine job.

Until conservatives face up to the nature of their opponent — not in the political realm but in the moral realm — they’re going to continue to have a hard time, no matter what electoral success may come next month.  You can’t fight an enemy unless you can name him, which is why the very first rule of my book is Know Thy Enemy.

So  Thomas Lifson noted in his American Thinker piece, today,  Here comes the Alinskyite Right, many conservatives have learned this lesson :

David Gregory and PiersMorgan have both met the Alinskyite Right, and progressives in positions of power should take note. Both men are the targets of digital petition drives aimed at holding them to their own standards, and ridiculing them, invoking Rules 4 and 5 from Rules for Radicals:

4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.

5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

This may be one of the first signs of the direction the conservative movement will take in President Obama’s second term, and I take heart from the development. Conservatives have read and assimilated the lessons in Rules, and with left thoroughly in control of the institutions of media, education and culture, a lot of petards are going to get a lot of hoisting in the next four years. Social media distribution makes it possible for funny or dramatic events to flow around the usual media cofferdams.

Professor Jacobson adds:

We saw it not only with Gregory and Morgan, but in the reaction to the publication of the home addresses and personal information of licensed, law-abiding gun owners by a NY newspaper.  Rather than just complain, someone published equally personal information about the editors and reporters at the newspaper.  I detest both tactics, but it’s a matter of holding them to their own rules via Alinsky.

An old post of mine about Fred Phelps gets traffic whenever the Westboro Baptist Church is in the news: Just a Reminder: Yes, Fred Phelps Is A Democrat. I assume it’s getting traffic right now because the Westboro vermin have been picketing the funerals of the Sandyhook massacre victims. I wouldn’t feel the need to remind people that Phelps is a Democrat if leftists weren’t always trying to associate the clan with the right. But they do – and believe me – if Phelps were a registered Republican, the entire Democrat media complex would be pushing that narrative hard. So it’s hilariously inconvenient for them that Phelps has a history of supporting Democrats like Al Gore, and has run for office at various times as a Democrat.

“Pretty sure he doesn’t represent the democratic party in any way shape or form.. his party affiliation means nothing. He is one man. Considering most democrats are advocates for the LGBT community.. not a disgusting hate group (genuinely) representing neither party,” whined one commenter.

To which I replied: “He represents neither party. It’s so big of you to admit that. I’m sure if he were a registered Republican, you’d say the same thing.”

Join me in hoisting them on their own petard. It’s the latest thing – and it will make the next four years more bearable.