Saul Alinsky: Mobilizing The Poor (1967)

Source:Tapa Talk- Saul Alinsky talking about community organizing.

"When William F. Buckley met Saul Alinsky, one of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s biggest influences.

The common aim of all Mr. Alinsky's organizations is to mobilize the poor-- mobilize them by whatever mean comes to hand (marches, sit-ins)--to demand decent housing conditions or whatever the local need may be. This one is a knock-down, drag- out from start to finish.

SA: I refuse to debate with him [David Riesman], which only came up recently ... I made the remark that any time I see any of his stuff, it sort of makes me feel like a grizzled, battle-scarred dog going down the street while way back, say, six blocks back or so, this little whining Pekingese comes out sniffing, yipping, and licking and growling at my leavings. And I'm not going to waste my time turning around."  

From Tapa Talk 

"William F Buckley engages community organizer Sal Alinsky regarding his actions and guiding philosophy. Liberty Pen" 

Source:Liberty Pen- community organizer Saul Alinsky on Firing Line With William F. Buckley in 1967. They talked about Mr. Alinsky's philosophy on community organizing.

From Liberty Pen

What I got in from this discussion from the few moments that Saul Alinsky got to talk about his own personal philosophy (even though this is about a fifteen-minute video) is that Mr. Alinsky was saying that: 

"Democracy that of course it is not perfect, is the best political system on the planet. But that democracy needs to work for everyone and not just be there for people who have money, or a lot of money. That everyone should have power and the ability to live in freedom. And that freedom shouldn't just be for people born to wealth and even just for people who create their own wealth."

Mr. Alinsky I believe sounds very mainstream to me and values that I believe Liberals, Progressives, Socialists and perhaps even Conservatives can all agree on. But the only question being what is the best way to make that happen so we don't have a country with very few wealthy people and a lot of poor people. But where where a lot of people are at least successful with money in the bank and not living paycheck to paycheck and struggling just to pay their bills. Whether they are rich or not. 

You can also see this post at FreeState MD, on Blogger.