The Patriot Post® · Saul Alinsky Is Alive and Well on College Campuses
Who, you ask, is Saul Alinsky? He was a self-proclaimed radical who supported guerrilla tactics and civil disobedience to get what he wanted. In 1971 he wrote about his book Rules for Radicals, “The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”
Another notable quote from Alinsky: “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.”
Hillary Clinton admired Alinsky and even chose to write her thesis on his book. David Brock referred to her as “Alinsky’s daughter” in 1966's The Seduction of Hillary Rodham. At the request of the White House, Wellesley College sealed her 1968 thesis because it showed "the extent to which she internalized and assimilated the beliefs and methods of Saul Alinsky.“ It was eventually opened to the public in 2001. Alinsky offered Clinton a job, which she turned down to go into politics, commenting, "Alinsky said I would be wasting my time, but my decision was an expression of my belief that the system could be changed from within.”
One of Alinsky’s rules says, “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 rule is now being utilized to destroy Dr. Carol M. Swain of Vanderbilt University. A student started a petition via Change.org calling for the job of Dr. Swain of "unprofessional intimidation on social media" and “discriminatory practices in the classroom." Even though the student has since recanted his comments, the damage to professor Swain has been done. In the midst of all this we have to ask, how students can yell discrimination and demand respect while they attack and attempt to destroy the career of successful African-American conservative professor?
Who, you ask, is Professor Carol Swain? She was born in Bedford Virginia and grew up in a shack without running water. She was raised with 11 siblings and dropped out of school in the eighth grade. Even after a childhood spent in poverty, Swain earned her GED, while working as a cashier at McDonalds, a door-to-door salesperson as well as an assistant in a retirement facility. She eventually gained her Associate degree from Virginia Western Community College, a B.S. in criminal justice from Roanoke College and a master’s degree in law from Yale. She then completed her Ph.D in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received tenure as an associate professor of politics and public policy at Princeton and currently teaches at Vanderbilt University. She has published multiple award-winning books and has written op-eds in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and USA Today. Needless to say, I could go on and on with a list of her accomplishments.
She epitomizes the American Dream. She not only tells us, but shows us what anyone is capable of doing if they live in the United States and choose to work hard. But why has she has become the recent target of the chaos that has erupted on college campuses around the country? One thought might be that a current portion of an entitled college population is shutting down free speech and demanding hard-working successful Americans pay their way. It doesn’t matter who they destroy in the process, what lies they propagate to get their way, as long as they get a free ride.
Ben Carson, presidential candidate who attended Yale, discussed the demonstrations on "The Kelly File,” saying, “Well we’re being a little bit too tolerant, I guess you might say, accepting infantile behavior, I don’t care which side it comes from. To say that I have the right to violate your civil rights because you’re offending me is un-American. It is unconstitutional. And the officials at these places must recognize that and have the moral courage to stand up it. Because if they don’t, it will grow, it will exacerbate the situation and we will move much further toward anarchy than anybody can imagine, and much more quickly.”
In a interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News, Keely Mullen, an organizer for the Million Student March, laid out the demands of the students:
- Free public college
- Cancellation of all student debt
- A $15 minimum wage
Cavuto asked Mullen who she thought she pick up the tab for all these demands and she replied, “The 1 percent of people who are hoarding the wealth and causing a catastrophe students are facing.”
Cavuto replied with the following question: “If the 1 percent just had their taxes raised a few years ago back to almost 40 percent then to pay for the healthcare law, they had them raised another few percentage points, then they had their deductions limited to raise another couple of points — depending on the state or locality — they’re pushing over about 50 percent in taxes. How much more do you think they should pay?”
Needless to say, the look of constant confusion on Mullen’s face and the lack of any sensical responses said it all. When advised, by Cavuto, that taking 100% of the wealthy’s money wouldn’t even be able to keep Medicare going for three years, she replied, “Yeah, I don’t believe that. Yeah, I’m sorry, that just sounds completely ludicrous to me.”
I guess she is unaware that the U.S. government spends about $7 million dollars ever minute. With uniformed responses like that, you have to ask yourself what they are teaching our young people in colleges across the country? The American people are already being robbed by the government, but now our so-called future leaders are demanding that we hand over all our money to pay their way? Bernie Sanders, who has traveled to colleges across the country has been spreading the same message to our students; everything should be free and paid for by the evil rich. In an interview with CNBC, Sanders said he would not be opposed to a 90% tax.
This movement among college students is not about the American Dream, it is about getting a free ride paid for by those of who have worked hard to gain an education and the appropriate experience to become successful contributors to the United States society. It is about instant gratification, not hard work. It is about destroying those, including professor Slain, who refuse to bend to the Rules of Saul Alinsky; those willing to stand up and fight for the values and ethics that result in becoming one of the many successful contributors to society among us.