In a recent interview on RT, Chris Hedges, host of that networks’ program On Contact talked with D.D. Gutenplan, editor of the Nation, about the rise of populism in this country. It is a movement against both parties and the media whom, they explain, lost themselves to corporate interests.
Focusing on labor issues and organizing during the 20th century, the discussion led to Saul Alinsky and his legacy. Embraced heavily by Democratic party operatives including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Alinsky’s tactics, according to Gutenplan, had a weakness.
If you read Rules for Radicals, you may notice the basic principle of the book is the ends justify the means to bring about change. It is strangely rooted in one of the greatest oxymorons in literature. Alinsky dedicates the book to Lucifer — whom he acknowledges is the symbol if not embodiment of evil — as one to emulate to bring change for a just society. Logically, that makes no sense. In fact, he even teaches how to attack the church in the same way that Lucifer does in popular Catholic teaching. That is a tactic the Democrats continue to use against Catholics and have been for the past twenty years.
D.D. Gutenplan explains to Chris Hedges that more and more people seeking populist movements discovered that Alinsky’s method of organizing, by default, is top down: he organized movement leaders who organized their subordinates. Populism is bottom up.
This country was built as a new form of government against the monarch which by definition maintained all power in the king. It is a government of the people by the people and for the people. It must lean more to populism.
Many people are losing faith in the political dynamics in the media and both parties. The Corona virus is the catalyst to their waking up and questioning the media narrative and their treatment of our leaders.
Did not certain celebrities say that the way to get rid of Mr. Trump, something they want to see, is to crash the economy? Is the solution to the virus real or is it just a tool to get rid of the president? Alinsky would be proud of their efforts, but they are anti-populist and anti-democratic. The minute one group of people acts to undo the results of an election, they change the dynamic…
