“The power and the people are in the big middle-class majority.”

“Large parts of the middle class, the “silent majority” must be activated, action and articulation are one, as are silence and surrender.”

“Once a people are organized, they will keep moving from issue to issue.  People power is the real objection.”

In my last blog and the first in this series on the Alinsky Method, I reviewed some of Saul Alinsky’s concepts for “mass organization of power” that he wrote about in his book published 53 years ago called “Rules for Radicals.”  His ideas and success in organizing the unheard voices of the black communities is something we can learn from as we organize for success in 2024 against the growing ideology of the left, Marxist agenda here in America.  In many ways, the experience of the American citizen today has expanded the silent majority with the censorship experienced especially among conservatives, pro-America patriots, and parents by mainstream media, social media, and our own government.

I know that Alinsky is considered by many to be a Marxist himself in the tactics he used to help silent voices be heard.  But his thoughts reflected in “Rules for Radicals” seem to be far more in support of the rights of any majority against the tyranny of any government and corporate alliance.  Sometimes your best learning is from the opposition who is winning against you, especially one that has taken time to study the human experience.  I feel that there is something we can learn from the Alinsky Method.  So, with that in mind, here are some of the key learnings Alinsky concluded are essential in organizing the silent majority.

What The People or Silent Majority Need to Know & Do

• To know power and not fear it is essential to its constructive use and control. Powerless people will not be purposeful and curious about life, and they then cease being alive.
• Power is not static. It must grow or die.  The power and the people are in the big middle-class majority.
• People react strictly based on their own experience. People make judgments, decisions, and acquire real understanding through personal experience.
• Participation is the heartbeat of the democratic way of life. Self-respect arises only from people playing an active role in solving their own crisis.  Otherwise, people become helpless, passive, puppet-like recipients of private or public services.
• Men will act when they are convinced that their cause is 100% on the side of the angels and the opposition is 100% on the side of the devil.
• If people feel they don’t have the power to change a bad situation, then they do not think about it. So, communication and education must address the people’s reason for why they should think and know about the situation.
• Humor in the form of satire and ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule.
• As power increases and risks diminish, the people step out front to take the risks. This is part of the growing process to increase local community participation, identify leaders, and strengthen the organization itself.

What the Organizer Needs to Know & Do

• There is a rationalization that happens on a mass basis to justify why any community of people, or their organization have not been able to do anything until the organizer appears. They wonder subconsciously why they lacked the intelligence and insight to resolve the problems they have lived with.
• Change comes from power and power comes from organization. Power is the reason for being an organization.  The organization is born out of the issues, and the organization must be based on many issues to capture a wide-based membership.
• The function of the organizer is to raise questions that agitate and break through accepted patterns to the point of conflict.
• For the organizer, life is action and there is no need for the security of an ideology or panacea as he/she knows that life is a quest for uncertainty, and he/she can live with that.
• An organizer must have the patience to talk to and listen to the residents/citizens. People only understand things in terms of their experience.  If you try to get your ideas across to others without paying attention to what they have to say to you, you can forget about the whole thing.   Communication is a two-way process.
• The organizer needs to communicate through the experiences of others and thus develop their own large body of experience.
• The constant guiding star of the organizer is the dignity of the individual – his desires, his values, his way of working and fighting for his programs EXCEPT if any of this violates the high values of a free and open society. This leads to participation and self-respect in taking an active role in solving their own crisis.

There are many organizations expanding their membership and new ones evolving, especially over the last five years since Covid.  As we see the erosion of America happening before our eyes in what we see, read, and directly experience in our communities, it is time for those of us in the silent majority to get organized.  Each of us needs to find the right organization to help us increase our power and that also means the right organizer that relates to your own personal experience.   To add that dimension of humor (like the right spice in a great dish), check out Babylon Bee.  Things are heating up and our mission is clear – Save America!!!