If there’s one thing upon which we should generally agree with regard to the two-party political system in America, it’s this:
- The Demorats know how to communicate;
- The Republicans do not.
GOP command of verbal and written communication ended with Ronald Wilson Reagan. And was found resolutely wanting under our 43rd president.
William Jefferson Clinton was a Master at communications, not just in terms of press releases, agenda, schedule, the media in all its forms, but his personal aura as well. He was crafted, shaped, formed, presently charismatic, purposeful in every event. Yes, WJC has come unwound in his dotage but, during his prime years, he was a Sun Tzu Master. It was once said of WJC: “he could stop for a moment, clasp your hand, look directly into your eyes, and make you feel like you were the only person in the room.” Master, indeed.
Likewise, Barack Hussein Obama is a Master at communications but is even more crafted and custom-created than his predecessor (for whom he owes a great debt of gratitude). Barack Hussein Obama will forever be remembered and associated with his TelePrompTer speeches — as opposed to any forced, instant or extemporaneous sessions which were, ahem, uh, eh, um, not so impressive.
Perhaps it’s time to tear a page from the Obama Playbook, wherein he embraces radical Leftist Saul Alinsky — mentor of both the Clintons and Obamas. Michelle Obama, for example, has already quoted Alinsky in her vaunted August 25th DNC Convention speech of last year.
They include:
RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”
Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)
RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.”
It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don’t address the “real” issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)
RULE 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.)
RULE 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. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity’s very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)
RULE 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. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.”
They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid “un-fun” activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)
RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.”
Don’t become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)
RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.”
This should actually be RULE NUMBER ONE for the GOP. Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”
Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists’ minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)
RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”
This is the Primary Rule taken from the book of the Third Reich’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who said: ” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management’s wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)
RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)
RULE 12: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.) This worked, in concert with other devices, against Bush.
Joseph Goebbels said at Nuremberg in 1934: “Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an understanding that will allow it to willingly and without internal resistance devote itself to the tasks and goals of a superior leadership.”
Goebbels’ other major quote is: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” See Rule 10. Great article about the concepts of propaganda here.
See any past, current and/or stated future Demorat tactics in play from that last statement, perchance?
The Republicans are and have been, essentially, too faint of heart. Politics is a Blood Sport and it is all about taking charge of your communications and defining yourself, removing that power from your opponent.
All in all, recently, the Demorats have simply communicated more effectively.
Take note, GOP and Conservatives.
BZ
It’s truly sad that an effective liar will accomplish more than a stumbling truth-teller. When you combine truth with rhetorical brilliance, as Reagan did, the left wouldn’t have a chance.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Napoleon:
“Never interrupt the enemy when they are making a mistake.”
Shoprat: which is why RWR is what the GOP and Conservatives now, in retrospect, consider the Gold Standard.
Kaveman: dude. That quote is going, RIGHT NOW, into my “Remember This, America” area.
BZ
Democratic Master communicator = Bullshit artist
And just think, this is only the 1st week of Obamanation…
Oh goody…
TF: Goebbels would be, and rightly so, proud.
BZ
Style over substance.
With the overall American attention span measured in nanoseconds the libs have an advantage. They can change history by just insinuating it for the moment whether it is the truth or not. The general American public will forget about it with the next flashy “in” thing.
Another good post. You can definitely see Saul Alinsky at work through Obama.
No question that communication and charisma have been sorely lacking in the GOP leadership. Even if you have an uber-conservative candidate, unless he can communicate and connect with the American public, it does us no good.
Goebbels—-“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
This was the number 1 most used tactic of them all during this campaign. It worked so very well for the left because the MSM was solidly in their camp.
NObama was/is a veritable expert at this ploy, more so than any one I have ever witnessed.
“he was just a guy who lived in the neighborhood”
“I never heard him say those things”
“I won’t accept public financing”
“I never worked for ACORN”
And the list goes on and on and on.
Great informative post. I knew Hillary was into this and now that I have read the Alinsky rules everything the Clinton’s did makes sense now and it is easy to see how Obama is being so successful using it.
That is why regardless of the B.S. we have to endure and the ‘bloodsport’ politics is, God will make it all just in the end. Sometimes, however, He allows us to see justice served now. I kind of like the ‘now’ because it is hard to wait, but I have to admit it will be sweet seeing His justice commence some day.
I admit I feel a little guilty feeling that way because God’s justice will be a lot worse than what we could imagine.
And for those who have forgotten, RWR did not follow up on promises of smaller government, less intrusive government, more manageable government… and other elected Republicans paid him little heed on those things.
The simple way to combat lies, misdirection, and all the rest of it is with the simple formula:
-Do as you Say.
-Say what you Mean.
-Mean what you Do.
That comes under the heading of HONOR.
There is no party that directly honors the Nation, recognizes that the government is *not* the Nation, and who will do and mean the necessary things to curb the government from hurting the Nation. Far better that the people do that with each other than have it mandated by any ‘nice’ government. As it is both Parties back larger, more intrusive, less accountable and highly aristocratic government where the people are mere subjects.
I do not want ‘nice’ government to do all sorts of ‘good things’ for me. Government is a necessary evil, and handing it *those* powers makes it true and complete evil, taking away the capacity to do good from the common man and investing it in the highest, least representative, least accountable place in all of society. We entrust ourselves to do the good, government to administer law equally, and for that latter to be held in service to the former by just doing a few simple things.
If you are choosing between ‘lesser of two evils’ you have admitted you want evil government as neither choice will do the things necessary to keep it in check and make it work for the things it is supposed to do and hand back to the people those things it can’t. You can’t get government created financial crises if you keep government’s nose out of the economy and just administer laws to keep companies accountable to shareholders. We stopped doing that with Teddy Roosevelt. It turns out that Hamilton was wrong: intrusive federal government is the problem, not a solution save to the question ‘how fast will your liberty and freedom go downhill with intrusive government?’
Took about 90 years.
We now have an answer.
You can’t get from limited government to large government without risk to your selves, your livelihood and your culture. And we have had exactly two parties exchanging ‘power’ while they have not been doing their jobs to administer government. Why don’t 49% of Americans who can vote actually vote? With THAT track record, there is no encouragement, now, is there.
If Republicans want to gain trust they need to clearly state what their goals and objectives are.
They need to mean what they say and back it up, and when someone pulls an Alinsky *call them on it*.
Then the hard part is doing what you have said what you will do as you mean it and will now do it because you honor your word and will show it.
Alinsky and Goebbels can only work against cowards who are in search of power. Say that, tell how that works and say that their distractions are meant to raise ire and feelings, and not let good sense rule you.
That is FREEDOM.
Free people using reason to come to a considered judgment, and you don’t need a single damned ‘blue ribbon panel’ to do that: people are smart if you tell it like it is and show how cowardly your opposition is in trying to change the subject, change the tune, rile your emotions and control you through them.
My stand is for limited federal government and entrusting the States and the people to make good laws for themselves. Those emotional ‘hot button’ issues of abortion, ‘gay rights’ and the rest are put on the screen to punch your buttons and distract YOU from the investment of power in the federal government to actually decide these things which belond to YOU and YOUR STATES to decide. That is why they are not ‘hot button’ for me: those bringing it up want to control me through my emotions and that gets only one response from me.
To Hell With Them All.
In case you hadn’t noticed it, all the DEMS and RINOs and big-governmentites are cowards and will not talk about their actual reasons for doing these things. I do and will point them out – I always have and always will. Right or Left, Liberal or Conservative – trying to play with my emotions is dishonorable and demonstrates you have no compunctions and large ulterior motives.
I will not give you that power over me.
EVER.
And, yes, I will fight to retain it so I can lead my unwell life without government and ‘activists’ screwing it up far worse than I ever could. Better that than to be a slave to my emotions and then enslaved by government.
To Hell With That.
AJ: and okay, in your second to last paragraph — what ARE the reasons? I have my opinions. . .
BZ
“Some writers have so confounded society with government,
as to leave little or no distinction between them;
whereas they are not only different, but have different origins.
Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness;
the former promotes our POSITIVELY by uniting our affections,
the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one
encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions.
The first a patron, the last a punisher.”
-Tom Paine, Common Sense, 1776
“The most important factor in getting the right spirit in my Administration, next to the insistence upon courage, honesty, and a genuine democracy of desire to serve the plain people, was my insistence upon the theory that the executive power was limited only by specific restrictions and prohibitions appearing in the Constitution or imposed by the Congress under its Constitutional powers. My view was that every executive officer, and above all every executive officer in high position, was a steward of the people bound actively and affirmatively to do all he could for the people, and not to content himself with the negative merit of keeping his talents undamaged in a napkin. I declined to adopt the view that what was imperatively necessary for the Nation could not be done by the President unless he could find some specific authorization to do it. My belief was that it was not only his right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws. Under this interpretation of executive power I did and caused to be done many things not previously done by the President and the heads of the departments. I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power. In other words, I acted for the public welfare, I acted for the common well-being of all our people, whenever and in whatever manner was necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative prohibition. I did not care a rap for the mere form and show of power; I cared immensely for the use that could be made of the substance.”
-Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography, Ch.10, 1913
I stand with Paine and suggest that Republicans examine what he said and then look where their party went with Theodore Rooosevelt and stop trying *emulate him*. By his own words he cared more about the power itself than the limits on it… I have a problem with that. We now have two parties following the path of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR… none of these men were about keeping government power in check. TR bemoans Lincoln DISSOLVING war time controls over the economy, and then going back to an all-volunteer force must have toasted TR’s cookies.
I suggest Republicans go back and read Thomas Paine.
Perhaps try out President Jackson’s reasons for getting *rid* of the National Bank which was resurrected by WW as the Federal Reserve.
Because I now see the problems of not following their wisdom coming to fruition. And Republicans have cared about power for so long they have forgotten what we founded for this Nation. If Republicans can not stand up and say that it is Society that must control the Nation and that government is to only administer laws equally and protect society and not try to *govern* or *rule* society, then I just might listen to the party. When I hear folks wanting power to do ‘good things’ they have broken with Paine right there and then.
It doesn’t work that way.
If it is so screwed up that it *does* then the job is to unscrew it, not screw it worse by meddling in the same direction.
The 12 – 13, actually – Rules For Radicals are quite reasonable. They are a guide for how the little guy can take on his oppressor, be that a government, corporation, whatever. You would be better off not reading them with cheat notes from a PR firm (Really! Are you that daft you didn’t notice?) and, if you are serious about bringing down the government, using them in your activities. They work for both sides’ y’know.
I’ve got say to say though, your connection of Alinsky to Goebells is tenuous to say the least, if you even thought of it yourself, which you didn’t. Goebells did say ‘It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State’ and Cheney et al used it to great effect.
Cheers
Elroy
PS RWR had ‘truth with rhetorical brilliance’? How gay are you for this guy? He was an Alzeimer’s riddled buffoon that helped cause the current clusterfuck.
He ‘communicated’ because he was an actor that could read a script – well, sort of. If you think politics is all about sales techniques you are dafter than what you think the electorate is.
Cheers
Elroy
C’mon, Blozep! Fight! Fight, Goddamn it!
Cheers
Elroy