Saul Alinsky on Principles & Values

1971: Rules for Radicals dedicated to first radical, Lucifer

I quickly emailed one of the staffers at our library at Grove City College. Did we have a copy of 'Rules for Radicals' on our shelves? We sure did. Please pull it, I said. I'll be right there.

I opened the book and couldn't believe my eyes. Alinsky offered this acknowledgment: "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history, the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom--Lucifer."

Just because Hillary admires greatly Saul Alinsky, who dedicated his seminal work to Lucifer, doesn't mean, of course, she lights votive candles to Satan.

Tactics must begin with the experience of the middle class

The Wisconsin protesters did the exact opposite of what Alinsky advises. They epitomized "rudeness, vulgarity and conflict," and in so doing they lost the sympathy and support of many Wisconsites.

In the end, the protests did more to help us achieve our aims than anything we could possibly have come up with in the governor's office.

It just goes to show that the extremism of your opponents is often your greatest weapon in the fight for what is right.

Calls for utilitarian˙/ situational ethics