How To Defeat Alinsky Rules

What are Alinsky's Rules for Radicals? Why are they important? How can they be countered?

Rule 1

Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Nonsensible's Counter

- Contest every claim. Always require proof. When a claim is made, demand proof immediately. Use proof to refute claims. Be ready to refute them immediately, but always, always demand proof. And never be intimidated by dubious claims.

Rule 2:
retreat.

Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and

Nonsensible's Counter

- In true ju-jitsu style, the aim here is to turn Alinsky's rules against themselves. When organized leftist activities are about to occur - ridicule them. When they are occurring, find ways to pressure them into stopping. Continue to ridicule them. Isolate and marginalize them. Additionally, disrupting their communication is key. While illegal activity is not acceptable, any other means of confusing or muting the message must be used. In other words, use Alinsky's Rule 3 and Rule 5 to counter his Rule 2.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase
insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

Nonsensible's Counter - This seems to be be self-evident to counter. Do not go outside

of your expertise. If you are challenged in a non-directional way, point out that the question is not relevant. Ask why they think it's relevant or has anything to do with the debate at hand. Point out why it's not relevant and then get back on topic/track. Do not attempt to defend the area. This is a classic tactic of those losing or attempting to knock an opponent off balance. Stick to the topic of the debate. If the opposition is successfully painting you as avoiding the question, then tell them there are others expert in that area that they can debate, but that it is not relevant to the discussion at hand.

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for
they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.

Nonsensible's Counter - This also applies to the left. There are numerous incongruities
in the positions of the left. Because they often have no morality equivalent of the Bible to 'throw at them', just go with their inconsistent positions. For example if they argue that being pro life

means you should be anti-2nd Amendment because guns kill people, remember the reverse is true. Being pro-choice means they should respect your right to bear arms. Anyone who's an environmentalist is breathing out carbon dioxide, and using some manner of product that is not environmentally friendly. Anyone anti-capitalist who is making more than minimum wage is making more than someone else. Unless they give up the extra income for others, they are profiting 'at the expense of others' and are therefore hypocrites. Ridicule is mans most potent weapon. Its hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

Rule 5:

The left LIVES by this rule.

Nonsensible's Counter - Combating ridicule with ridicule quickly denigrates the debate
into nothing more than calling. Unless you are Dennis Miller, don't try it. The most effective counter is to point out that ridicule is the refuge of the desperate and uninformed. Follow it up with 3 more fact-based points that tie directly to your point. Finish with the point that if someone wants to engage in ridicule instead of discussion then they aren't in the right place. Whatever you do, remember the following: DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. That's what they are aiming for - it takes you off your game. Remember it's a tactic, and frequently one of desperation or displaying a lack of a cogent argument. It's often a signpost to drive your point home hard and fast with facts as quickly as possible.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. Nonsensible's Counter - This is a pretty straightforward rule and if someone is doing
something they enjoy, it's tough to make them not enjoy it. You could do that but it makes Republicans become the party of "No'. The GOP is supposed to be the party of 'know'. The best counter for it is to make sure that 'your people' are enjoying their tactics as well. The best way to do that is to combine tactics with fun.

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in
any issue for only a limited time.... This is quite true. Alinsky, while being a radical socialist, did have some accurate insights. And this was one of them. People don't want the drudgery of ceaseless, redundant effort. The left has the entertainment industry - movies, concerts, comedians. Those are inherently interesting and fun. What does the right have? NASCAR, country music...not much else in terms of entertainment. Entertainment is important. While NASCAR and country music are something, they aren't categories that generate the same number of new converts, particularly among the youth. Winning hearts and minds is a big deal. Keeping up enthusiasm among the hearts and minds requires constant effort. People get bored easily, and particularly so in today's fast-paced entertainment and media environment. The right needs new tactics. Sports in general is an untapped area of fun and crowds for example.

Of course the left has education and the news media all but sewn up. Those need to be countered too. Particularly the education aspect - events related to education and tactics related to educational influence are highly important touch points. What else is needed is a parallel industry for music, for movies, for television. Not just Fox. And without it, you risk having any message being drowned out not only by sheer volume from the left, but also by the glitz and inherent entertainment appeal. The entertainment industry provides an opportunity to tie a message to fun. Directly, and yet often surreptitiously. The right cannot afford to leave that advantage solely to the left.

Nonsensible's Counter -

The interesting thing about this rule is that Alinsky recommends changing tactics to keep the fight interesting. Obviously the counter to that would be to force the liberals to keep the tactic the same so that the momentum dies a natural death. But how do you keep an opponent's tactic from changing? Tricky. Firstly you have to recognize the change in tactics for what it is. What looks like something that's moved on could be something that has the same root goal as the original tactic but has not yet been identified as such. Alternatively, instead of changing tactics, the militants could change people, by attracting a new set of people and engaging them in a tried and true tactic, it looks like a fresh tactic, or a tactic that continually works. So the counter to the changing tactic has to be twofold; (1) force the radicals back to the original tactic and (2) prevent them from attracting new recruits to support the tactic as the original cast dissipates from natural attrition. Recognize a tactic change. Prevent the new tactic from succeeding as early as possible by marginalizing it. The left does this constantly - look how they under-reported and marginalized the Tea Parties. Outwork your opponent when there's a tactic change - a change in tactics is an opportunity to take advantage of because it means a tactic isn't working. If you can push them back to an older tactic you can paint the radicals as using the same old tired approach and they don't have any new ideas. Conversely, another approach would be to change your own tactics more frequently than your opponent. This will keep them off guard, and on the defensive. A reactive combatant is less prone to make progress than a pro-active combatant.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period
for your purpose.

This rule is critical, perhaps most critical. It ties all of the other rules together into one fundamental concept of battle. More simply put - stay on the offensive and never let up. It's a variation of a theme espoused in the Shawshank Redemption "Get busy living or get busy dying."

In this case it's get busy winning, or get busy losing.

Nonsensible's Counter - Keep the pressure on. Get busy attacking or get busy defending.
You can be proactive or reactive. Which do you think is better? Conservatives are more likely to be imbued with entrepreneurial spirit. We should have a higher aptitude to be proactive. The battle between left and right is part of a war that can only be won through attrition if you are on the offensive. If you aren't attacking, you are losing. So attack. Do this through volume of attacks and talking points and through specific laser-like guided missile attacks that knee-cap an opponent's main argument points. Keep finding the issues that can drive your message. If there are no issues of the day that are relevant, create them. Create them by using your ideas for the country to be highlighted as issues. Lastly, tie up all the events possible - every event from a garage sale, to a bake sale to a town hall meeting is an event. Own as many events as possible. Every event is a medium for your message.

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.

When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of OHare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the citys reputation.
Nonsensible's Counter - So, don't cave. Be prepared to weather every storm. A boycott, as

Alinsky's rule #7 itself indicates, will pass. Be prepared to counter the claims, but be steeled enough to ignore them.

Rule 10:

"If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside... every positive has its negative." In other words, if you push the other side far enough to create a negative (e.g. violent reaction), you will score points with public sympathy.

Nonsensible's Counter - Fight fire with water. Douse the argument with a cold splash of
facts. Cite credible sources and avoid the histrionics the other side is using and hoping for you to respond with. Their histrionics are contrived, yours is apt to be emotional and blunderous. But remember, all politics is theater. So one important thing to remember though, by being rationale and calm, you don't want to come across as cold. You want to come across as personable and someone to whom the audience can relate. John Stossel does this very well. Point their argument out for what it is - melodramatic tripe. If they cite facts ask them to provide references for the facts. Don't allow them to side-step the question with a dismissal. Make them answer it. But be empathetic not confrontational.

Rule 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy
score points because youre caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If youre not part of the solution, youre part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)

Nonsensible's Counter - Three easy points.

(1) Have a solution to the issue being discussed. (2) Know and be able to refute the opponent's solution. (3) Be able to sell your own ideas as the right solution, with relatable, tangible facts. This denies the radical credibility and wins the issue for you. Essentially many of these come down to simple debating class principles. You want to win on points. Switching to a boxing metaphor, a knockout would be nice, but an effective counter-punching technique will give you the chance to find that knockout opportunity. In fact, you might not even need the knockout.

Rule 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Ignore attempts to shift or spread
the blame. By doing this the radical attempts to marginalize key figures in the opposition by isolating these figures and making them unpalatable, thereby seperating leadership from the conservative base. This either wins converts or at least neutralizes the ability to mobilize around a countering viewpoint.

Nonsensible's Counter - These personalizations must be pointed out for what they are the attempt to avoid real debate on issues by demonizing legitimate viewpoints that at the very least should be debated on their own merits. If liberals can't stand up to real debate on their ideas or ours, then their ideas must lack credibility beyond ridicule and derision. Demand factual debate. Challenge them to discuss and when they refuse they will rightly be portrayed as afraid, unprepared or intellectually incapable of honest debate.