This week, we saw a playbook get opened in the halls of the Capitol which should be no surprise to any Constitutional Conservative who has been paying attention the last several years, even decades.
Social Justice warriors invoked their leader, Saul Alinsky, and used every step in his guide, “Rules for Radicals”.
The behavior we saw is nothing new and we must be careful to keep in perspective that their goal is one thing, power. There is freedom to disagree with the redistricting map, but it’s another thing to purposefully manipulate a situation into being something that it’s not, all to gain power.
Let’s look at this week and see how Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals could be applied:
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.
A “din” is a loud, chaotic noise. Protestors used fire alarms, air horns, and their voices to create the feeling that their numbers far outweighed the number of Republican representatives, Tennessee State Troopers, and any bystanders. They followed Republicans to their cars, for the purpose of instigating and creating fear by their loud voices and mere presence.
The protestors wanted the Republicans to perceive the power was in the hands of those who came to disrupt order. Radicals do not have power, but their goal is to ensure other people believe they do. This tactic also helps to grow their campaign, as others who share their sentiments will be quick to jump in and join the fight.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
All week, we heard names dropped from the Democrat representatives such as George Wallace and Bull Connor, accusing the House Leader of going down in history with the same legacy. We heard Sen. Akbari (D – Memphis) tell the Republicans that they were no different than the KKK. We saw Sen. Oliver (D – Nashville) stand on her desk and hold a banner accusing the redistricted map of being “Jim Crow 2.0”.
The truth is, George Wallace, former Governor of Alabama, and Bull Connor, a former commissioner in Alabama, who both fought hard against the Civil Rights Movement, were both Democrats.
The KKK is a Democrat institution.
Jim Crow laws were instituted by Democrats.
But the narrative has to fit within the “lived experience” of the radicals, and in this case, it had to stay within the boundaries of race.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Repeatedly throughout the special session, Republican lawmakers were accused of not being able to feel the pain of black Tennesseans. On one of Rep. Pearson’s tirades, he stated “we are still here, you put us on cotton plantations, you put us on tobacco plantations, you denied our human rights and our rights to exist as children of God and we are still here…”
He purposefully created a narrative that these white Republicans were directly to blame for slavery and racial injustices throughout American history. This goes outside of their experiences because as we know, no one in that chamber had any responsibility for the way blacks were treated in this country. But it has the potential for causing one to question their responsibility, to question their experience, which then causes confusion, fear and even silence, because giving a response will only fuel the fire.
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.”
Conservatives find their rules in two sources, the Word of God and the Constitution. It is through these law books that we’re given the right to free speech, the right to our own opinions and the freedom to share those. Protestors use our rules against us, they take advantage of the right to freely assemble and make their voices heard. Our Founders all believed in the power of the people, they risked their lives for it, but that power still needed to be harnessed in order to be productive.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Throughout the session, blaming sitting lawmakers for slavery and the racist policies that were fought in the 1960s, was a specific tactic meant to cause a reaction and put white Republicans in the palms of the hands of the radicals. It is a pointed, purposeful attack to break and embarrass the men and women in the room.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
The protestors at the Capitol, whether wearing KKK hoods with nooses around their necks, or simply chanting in unison, there is nowhere else they would rather have been than joining the theatrics. Radicals live for this type of protest, to throw aside any decorum and decency, but an all out “free for all” where emotions can dictate actions without consequence.
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose.
If you notice, each day looked different. On Wednesday, protestors attended committee meetings, held signs as usual, and joined in moments of explosion as bills were heard. On Thursday, their Democratic Representatives and Senators took to the stage, linking arms across the front of the chambers, invoking the rhetoric of the Civil Rights era, theatrics all to gain national attention and keep the pressure on.
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.
In this case, the threat here is that more Democrats will become enraged and emboldened to join the fight against Republicans. Is it terrifying? No. Is it a very possible reality? Absolutely. We’ve already lived through the most tyrannical, anti-freedom Presidents in the last generation with Obama and Biden, we should not be terrified of what’s to come, but we do need to be ready.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
The problem is, the local news sources aren’t going to question the protestors, they’re just going to give them a platform. Their protest was successful because what the media captured was all from their narrative. It was the performance by Rep. Pearson, it was the table top demonstration by Sen. Oliver, it was the burning of a confederate flag by Rep. Jones.
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
The target of the protests were white people. The majority of the claims by the left were directed specifically at the race of the “other side”. The Democrats made it a race argument because they knew they could. It couldn’t be a political argument, since Democrats have had more control of the state than Republicans have. It couldn’t be an election integrity argument, since their side is the one promoting illegal voting across the country. The only card they could pull was race.
Which of course is ironic because their Congressman who serves in the district they are fighting so hard to keep, is white.
The choice to redistrict or not already had split sentiment across the state among conservatives. But because of the theatrics of the left, it removed any ability to dialogue and have civil discussion regarding the bills.
The reality is, Memphis has had one of the largest crime rates in the United States. The freedom to control their School Board was just taken away from them. President Trump sent in the National Guard troops to instill law and order. The city needs help, and not the kind of help that comes from keeping black men and women in bondage to their party through the welfare system and DEI ideology.
Only time will tell how this will all play out. I hope having fresh eyes on the city will empower black conservatives to publicly and proudly proclaim their values.
This is a wake up call to Conservatives across Tennessee. We must elect lions, not lambs. We must pray for our leadership diligently, on both sides. If you are a believer, you know division is not of God. He is a God of order, but Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. The destruction of American values that we saw in our Capitol this week is evident that the father of lies has a stronghold in this state and must be defeated.
Rules for Radicals in Tennessee
This week, we saw a playbook get opened in the halls of the Capitol which should be no surprise to any Constitutional Conservative who has been paying attention the last several years, even decades.
Social Justice warriors invoked their leader, Saul Alinsky, and used every step in his guide, “Rules for Radicals”.
The behavior we saw is nothing new and we must be careful to keep in perspective that their goal is one thing, power. There is freedom to disagree with the redistricting map, but it’s another thing to purposefully manipulate a situation into being something that it’s not, all to gain power.
Let’s look at this week and see how Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals could be applied:
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.
A “din” is a loud, chaotic noise. Protestors used fire alarms, air horns, and their voices to create the feeling that their numbers far outweighed the number of Republican representatives, Tennessee State Troopers, and any bystanders. They followed Republicans to their cars, for the purpose of instigating and creating fear by their loud voices and mere presence.
The protestors wanted the Republicans to perceive the power was in the hands of those who came to disrupt order. Radicals do not have power, but their goal is to ensure other people believe they do. This tactic also helps to grow their campaign, as others who share their sentiments will be quick to jump in and join the fight.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
All week, we heard names dropped from the Democrat representatives such as George Wallace and Bull Connor, accusing the House Leader of going down in history with the same legacy. We heard Sen. Akbari (D – Memphis) tell the Republicans that they were no different than the KKK. We saw Sen. Oliver (D – Nashville) stand on her desk and hold a banner accusing the redistricted map of being “Jim Crow 2.0”.
The truth is, George Wallace, former Governor of Alabama, and Bull Connor, a former commissioner in Alabama, who both fought hard against the Civil Rights Movement, were both Democrats.
The KKK is a Democrat institution.
Jim Crow laws were instituted by Democrats.
But the narrative has to fit within the “lived experience” of the radicals, and in this case, it had to stay within the boundaries of race.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Repeatedly throughout the special session, Republican lawmakers were accused of not being able to feel the pain of black Tennesseans. On one of Rep. Pearson’s tirades, he stated “we are still here, you put us on cotton plantations, you put us on tobacco plantations, you denied our human rights and our rights to exist as children of God and we are still here…”
He purposefully created a narrative that these white Republicans were directly to blame for slavery and racial injustices throughout American history. This goes outside of their experiences because as we know, no one in that chamber had any responsibility for the way blacks were treated in this country. But it has the potential for causing one to question their responsibility, to question their experience, which then causes confusion, fear and even silence, because giving a response will only fuel the fire.
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.”
Conservatives find their rules in two sources, the Word of God and the Constitution. It is through these law books that we’re given the right to free speech, the right to our own opinions and the freedom to share those. Protestors use our rules against us, they take advantage of the right to freely assemble and make their voices heard. Our Founders all believed in the power of the people, they risked their lives for it, but that power still needed to be harnessed in order to be productive.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Throughout the session, blaming sitting lawmakers for slavery and the racist policies that were fought in the 1960s, was a specific tactic meant to cause a reaction and put white Republicans in the palms of the hands of the radicals. It is a pointed, purposeful attack to break and embarrass the men and women in the room.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
The protestors at the Capitol, whether wearing KKK hoods with nooses around their necks, or simply chanting in unison, there is nowhere else they would rather have been than joining the theatrics. Radicals live for this type of protest, to throw aside any decorum and decency, but an all out “free for all” where emotions can dictate actions without consequence.
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose.
If you notice, each day looked different. On Wednesday, protestors attended committee meetings, held signs as usual, and joined in moments of explosion as bills were heard. On Thursday, their Democratic Representatives and Senators took to the stage, linking arms across the front of the chambers, invoking the rhetoric of the Civil Rights era, theatrics all to gain national attention and keep the pressure on.
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.
In this case, the threat here is that more Democrats will become enraged and emboldened to join the fight against Republicans. Is it terrifying? No. Is it a very possible reality? Absolutely. We’ve already lived through the most tyrannical, anti-freedom Presidents in the last generation with Obama and Biden, we should not be terrified of what’s to come, but we do need to be ready.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
The problem is, the local news sources aren’t going to question the protestors, they’re just going to give them a platform. Their protest was successful because what the media captured was all from their narrative. It was the performance by Rep. Pearson, it was the table top demonstration by Sen. Oliver, it was the burning of a confederate flag by Rep. Jones.
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
The target of the protests were white people. The majority of the claims by the left were directed specifically at the race of the “other side”. The Democrats made it a race argument because they knew they could. It couldn’t be a political argument, since Democrats have had more control of the state than Republicans have. It couldn’t be an election integrity argument, since their side is the one promoting illegal voting across the country. The only card they could pull was race.
Which of course is ironic because their Congressman who serves in the district they are fighting so hard to keep, is white.
The choice to redistrict or not already had split sentiment across the state among conservatives. But because of the theatrics of the left, it removed any ability to dialogue and have civil discussion regarding the bills.
The reality is, Memphis has had one of the largest crime rates in the United States. The freedom to control their School Board was just taken away from them. President Trump sent in the National Guard troops to instill law and order. The city needs help, and not the kind of help that comes from keeping black men and women in bondage to their party through the welfare system and DEI ideology.
Only time will tell how this will all play out. I hope having fresh eyes on the city will empower black conservatives to publicly and proudly proclaim their values.
This is a wake up call to Conservatives across Tennessee. We must elect lions, not lambs. We must pray for our leadership diligently, on both sides. If you are a believer, you know division is not of God. He is a God of order, but Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. The destruction of American values that we saw in our Capitol this week is evident that the father of lies has a stronghold in this state and must be defeated.
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Anne Lowery
Anne Lowery