Beck Postponed; Alinsky Reviewed

The interview I taped with Glenn Beck this week about the radicalism of the Obama administration will be aired next week. In the meantime, here’s the way community organizers and agents of change like Barack Obama are encouraged to think by their political guide: “The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a political community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them….An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent; provide a channel in which the people can angrily pour their frustrations….When those prominent in the status quo turn and label you an ‘agitator’ they are completely correct, for that is your function — to agitate to the point of conflict.” (Rules for Radicals, pp.116-117) Sow resentment and conflict, create controversy and hostility — this is the role of radicals.