Alinsky and Lucifer

On Sunday November 28, I created a new file in a graphics program.  While editing the image, I noticed that the titlebar took on a specific file name rather than the default for a new file.  I was posed thereby by the accidental press of the save button to delete a file containing controversial content.  Was this a deliberate hack?  The controversy contended pertains to the quote below:

From the preface of  Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, 1972

Screenshot of quote in its context of an Amazon.com book preview.

Unlike the legendary Faust, the falsely accused Paganinni, or the possibly misrepresented leader of the Freemasons, Saul Alinsky is recorded here for all to see giving his due to the Devil.

The real Faust has been obscured by his legend.  Paganinni played the violin so well that he was presumed to have supernatural help.  In reality, a disease producing loose joints is more likely to have given rise to his gift rather than the devil.  Freemasonry apologists say that one of their leaders tarnished their reputation by publishing his ideas on the secular meaning of the latin word lucifer, although the deep secrecy of their proceedings may not allow this to allay any suspicions.  However, Saul's more direct inference may reflect on the state of the conscience of modern liberalism as a whole.  How can the conscience of those accepting pass over that which would repulse those of a more sensitive sort?

The contradictory nature of modern liberalism, simultaneously pursuing noble goals without wisdom, and rationalizing corrupt goals, while declaring some moral high ground nullified by that corruption, seems consistent with an unknowing complicity with the devil.  Thus infanticide is called a women's right over her body, homosexuality an alternative lifestyle, and occult practices constitutionally protected religious practices.  And some would dare invoke God in this unholy context, a context that makes Alinsky's comment an accidental allusion to the true power behind the evil of this age.

Saul Alinsky is praised by his liberal following for championing the cause of the poor.  This seems noble enough, however it is the tactics he practiced and taught that raise questions.  He said an organizer must "fan the latent hostilities"  and "he must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them."  Once he demonstrated this tactic by dumping a truckload of garbage at the front door of a politician in order to get his response.  It appears he teaches the crafty exploitation of people and opportunity for political ends.  Controversy and conflict are often incidental to an honest  pursuit of noble ends, but to deliberately pursue them as a means to an end is not noble at all.

The Clinton administration kept Hillary's fondness of Alinsky hidden while they had power.  Her birth in Chicago put her in his sphere of influence, until her writing a final college thesis on him and his methods marked her ideological change from Republican to Democrat when she was 21.  Barack Obama's desire to change things played him into Alinsky's spell as well when Alinsky's followers hired him to organize in Chicago when he was 23 years old.

It would be fair to say that Clinton and Obama are not Alinsky's only followers.  His success in organizing was well known and many liberal activists read his books and patterned their activities after him.  The attempted handcuffing of Karl Rove by Code Pink, the ruthless pursuit of Japanese whaling ships by ecopirates, and others show the spread of questionable political means.  That the ecopirates are depicted as if their ends justified their means implies the ideological approval of those who produce and broadcast their documentary.

How does this affect your conscience?

Sources
¹Peter Slevin, "For Clinton and Obama, a Common Ideological Touchstone,"  The Washington Post, Sunday, March 25, 2007
²Transcript of episode "Democrats and the Legacy of Activist Saul Alinsky," from ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, NPR News, May 21, 2007

Document History
December 3, 2010  Created.
December 3, 2010  Corrected "handcuffing of Karl Rove" to "attempted handcuffing of Karl Rove"