Using Alinsky Rules for Conservatives: Never Let Up!

“A nation under a well regulated government should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.”  Thomas Paine

“The people must remain ever vigilant against tyrants masquerading as public servants.” – George Washington

One of the Alinsky rules used most by the left is the 12th: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Another tactic is rule 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” By constantly finding new things for the masses to look at, they try to keep us off balance. They hit us with something new every few days without giving us a rest. This seems to be the case with all of the multitudes of scandals and questionable actions, which have been coming from the Obama administration.

Who can forget when Joe Biden’s staff repeatedly interfered with press coverage of his speeches, including forcing a reporter to wait in a closet, making another reporter delete photos, and editing pool reports?  Doesn’t seem like such a stretch for Eric Holder’s Justice Department’s activities concerning the press, as we’ll see further down in this article.

The Department of Health and Human Services is not immune with their own Secretary’s questionable activities either.  A U.S. special counsel determined that Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when, during a speech last year, she made remarks such as, “One of the imperatives is to make sure that we not only come together here in Charlotte to present the nomination to the president, but we make sure that in November he continues to be president for another four years.”  The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election. A federal employee is allowed to make partisan remarks when speaking, but not when using their official title or when speaking about agency business.  After news came out about her speech, the DHHS reclassified the trip from official to political and issued a statement stating so, and the DNC reimbursed the U.S. Treasury for all costs and expenses associated with her travel to the event.

Consider AG Eric Holder and his DOJ. Remember when the Justice Department was accused of failing to pursue a voter intimidation case against Black Panthers who threatened voters at a polling place in 2008 in Philadelphia?  We must also never forget “Fast and Furious” where the ATF allowed weapons from the U.S. to “walk” across the border where they found their way into the possession of Mexican drug dealers.  The ATF lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which were used in crimes, including the December 2010 killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.  Terry’s parents still have not had justice served in the murder of their son. AG Holder may have committed perjury when he told Congress in May 2011 that he hadn’t heard about Fast and Furious when there is proof that he had known much earlier.

And recently, there was the Justice Department’s decision to seize many of the Associated Press reporters’ phone records as part of a leak investigation.  When Holder suggested that Fox News reporter James Rosen is a criminal for reporting about classified information, he ordered the DOJ to monitor Rosen’s phones and emails.  It’s interesting that the top law enforcement officer of the nation would tell Congress he had never been associated with “potential prosecution” of a journalist for perjury when in fact he signed the affidavit that termed Rosen a potential criminal.

Now we are seeing the broadening unethical actions perpetrated by the IRS. It’s clear that they were targeting certain groups on basis of their political and religious beliefs.

We’re also learning more about the surveillance of Americans and foreign nationals.  While this brings back old arguments of President Bush’s Patriot Act, there are big differences and what has been happening under Obama, has been a blatant case of government intrusion on private citizens.  It’s interesting as well, that Obama highly criticized Bush’s surveillance policies. When it comes to politics of the left, when it’s a Republican doing it- it’s wrong. When it’s Obama doing it, it’s completely fine.

Remember Leon Panetta testifying that the administration would seek UN approval for the deployment of U.S. forces overseas while deciding whether or not it would seek approval from Congress?  I seem to still hear those who suffer from what has been termed “Bush derangement syndrome” claim that the Iraq war was an illegal war because, well because Bush lied and people died. Yet Bush had Congressional approval heading in, so where are those same people when it comes to Obama actually violating the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution by attacking Libya without Congressional approval?

Now we come to Obama himself.   Obama has repeatedly been accused of going around Congress by deciding which laws to enforce, including going around judges as in cases of offshore drilling moratoriums after Deepwater Horizon and refusing to deport illegal aliens.

Speaking of Obama, there are the remaining, unanswered questions about the events in Benghazi, which left Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith and former SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty dead.  We have yet to see any accountability and their families are still, after over 9 months later, waiting for the truth. The failure of this administration to protect the Benghazi mission is still in question. The hearings and witness testimonies proved that changes were made to the talking points in order to suggest the attack was motivated by an a video, which proved to be a deliberate lie, yet the only people who are being punished are those who told the truth during testimony–and the video maker, of course.  Instead, both of the “lie promoters”, Victoria Nuland and Susan Rice, have received nice promotions.

We are still waiting to know the truth about what Obama did the night of the attack.  We are still waiting to know the truth about the activities of Ambassador Stevens, as he is known to have met with Turkish Consul General that night. He supposedly left the compound at around 7:45 pm, Libyan time, some reports saying, 8:30 pm, but he claims he saw none of the roadblocks the militants had placed around the compound. Locals had described roadblocks going up before sunset, “it felt like our neighborhood was occupied, no one could get out or in.”  Whether the check points and road blocks were in place, or being in the process of being set up by the time of the Consul’s departure, he would have noticed all the activity building up around the compound and warned Stevens- but he didn’t. Why not?

We are still waiting to know who gave the stand down order, which prevented military assets which were within 2 hours distance from going in and helping Woods and Doherty who were left alone to fight and be murdered by rebel forces.  And perhaps the most important question remains, why was there no Cross Border Authorization given?  Obama as President is the only person who can give that authorization. Why didn’t he?

As so much news keeps coming about each new scandal, there are still a few who are trying to keep Benghazi and Fast and Furious in the spotlight, but people are getting weary. I’ve heard many folks wonder how we can possibly keep track of everything that this administration has done to whittle and slash at our Constitution, much of which is ignored or given a pass by both parties in the House.

So how about we practice that 12th Alinsky rule?  If we each pick a target, and freeze it, we can make sure none of these issues will fade away. If we all pick one or two scandals to focus on, each of us can continue to fight for the truth to come out.

I’ve been focused on Benghazi.  I’ve personalized it, not to use it to mock others, but to help to fight for the families and American’s right to know the truth and see justice done.  I won’t be letting go of this until that happens.