A Delicate Balance of Crazies
Saul Alinsky, community organizer and radical, is usually followed by the far left and sometimes just the left to organize and rally support for a cause or a mission. Yet, things have changed and it is the right that seems to be implementing Alinsky’s rules and practices to rally support for what they believe in. This has caused a devastating fall on the far left and has left the United States unbalanced and tilted to the far right. This is going to shift American politics in many swing states and swing districts. I tend to loathe or dislike extreme ideologues because they fail to actually achieve anything other than feed their perverted sense of self righteousness and guilt. But, I see a problem in which the left is getting bruised and beaten and the right is mobilizing in ways rarely seen on that side.
Saul Alinsky loves using Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine as examples of radicals. If anybody hasn’t noticed the Tea Party is essentially a Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine based crowd. It is personally upsetting to see that Thomas Paine is being commandeered by the crazies on the right, we named this blog after his revolutionary work. The Tea Party crazies are being dismissed by the Liberals and Liberal crazies as having astroturf grassroots efforts, maybe the dumbest beliefs on the left is that astroturfing is “bad”. Saul Alinsky wrote that “power is with numbers”. If you pack a room filled with cameras and disrupt everything you’ve accomplished an important step in organizing. The Tea Party crazies not only did that once they did that almost every time. The left on the other hand sat at home and complained, angry at their own party and angrier at the far right and yet unwilling to do anything. For Americas sake, don’t dismiss people who are not only organizing, but organizing well. If you are afraid or you are angry or if you complain all the time go out, go make something of your anger, fear, and discontent.
Saul Alinsky would be disappointed to see that business has fooled the unemployed, tax paying voter. The far left is down, but it is not out. I used to be a far left crazy, now I consider myself a radical heart with a very pragmatic cerebral. The radical and the pragmatist in me wants to see balance brought back to the great American Democracy. Please, lefties get up and get loud. Grab “Rules for Radicals” or “Reveille for Radicals”, grab your Che Guevara shirts, grab your canvassing bag, and most importantly grab your clipboard and organize. Democrats have lost that street smart spirit and have lazily done nothing. Volunteer for a progressive candidate or a progressive cause, Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart are great but they are figures on TV and are making their own difference and taking some sort of action. Instead of watching a talking head, do something. Its time we bring balance back to this country, bring change through sheer numbers.
