Saul Alinsky's Rules Being Applied At The White House?

Saul Alinsky. Who is he?

President Obama, as a former community organizer, is said to have been influenced by Saul Alinsky and his "Rules for Radicals." I don't know how much of a positive impact Alinsky has had on American society but his rules (from wiki) should remind readers of a couple of people:

• The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment.
• In war the end justifies almost any means.
• Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.
• Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.
• The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.
• Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.
• The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.
• Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.
• You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.
• Goals must be phrased in general terms like "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," "Of the Common Welfare," "Pursuit of Happiness," or "Bread and Peace."

The last one is especially important. It's not hard to detect.

One rule for community organizing he espoused is classic: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Sarah Palin and George W. Bush anyone?

Don't know about you, but he's basically the Machiavelli and Henry Kissinger of community organizing to me. It also reminded me of the time when Tim Robbins pretended to be a policy expert when he wrote a play about Leo Strauss and his influence on neoconservatism.

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Here's what I think - especially in terms but not restricted to business. Are you done booing and hissing?

There's a better way than pissing off or deceiving people. Alinsky may be a genius but his rules and ideas are polarizing, counter productive and plain incongruent with mainstream moderate minds in the long run.

It's the "work with the system rather than against it" school of thought.

I hated working for "the man." I had real problems with authority. Not for its own sake but I had a distinct idea of what and how company should look and feel like. I believed in philosophical tenets not well-received in modern corporations.

Rather than come up with points of attacks, I assessed the situation and said to himself "I can make a difference. I won't be able to do it within the traditional framework but I will construct one."

The way I see it, is if people like it, they will follow too. Anything else, coerced and manipulative, is bound to fail; to create nothing but a superficial wall too weak to withstand a light wind.

One day (and I'm close to it) I will start a company and people will want to work for me. If it resonates, the force of my ideas will carry the day. I don't need the government to instill an innovative mind and spiritual ethic. I believe in me and only me to do the right thing.

And I believe this ethic to be the perfect conduit towards a truly organic civil and just society.