RULES ARE MEANS TO ACHIEVE GOALS.

RULES ARE MEANS TO ACHIEVE GOALS. By Claudia Roazen
Machiavelli’s the Prince “end justifies the means”. Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals “Does this particular end justify this particular means?”
“The goal and the means should equally be called into scrutiny and be required to answer to the same test of righteousness, intent and morality. The goal achieved or unachieved should of its own definition, be determined moral minded or corrupt, good or evil and to history famed or defamed. The means should equally be judged effective or not by its own definition, moral or savage, respectful or cruel and to history celebrated or abandoned.” Claudia Roazen

The power presently in place has purposefully outraged the haves against the have not’s and the Republicans against the Democrats and Middle Class Conservative voices against the Affluent Liberal Elite using the eleven rules of tactics of the Alinsky’s method. I will paraphrase Alinsky’s list of eleven rules below in his Rules for Radicals.
Rule 1 Power is the perception of power not the reality of power. Convince your opponents that you have power.
Rule 2 Keep your method, tactic and message within the boundaries of their comfort zone or risk losing their direct support by confusion, fear and retreat.
Rule 3 Do go out of the comfort zone of your opponent so that they become confused, fearful and retreat.
Rule 4 Hold them to their own rules and beliefs and expose their inability and failure as the weapon to diminish their position by hypocrisy.
Rule 5 Ridicule that hypocrisy and your opponent to incite their reaction. Ridicule and insults that are counterattacked debase the opponent or leave them silent.
Rule 6 Tactics must be fun, a sport and a game that thrills the supporters.
Rule 7 Change and refresh tactics before boredom sets in and your energetic supporters are less inspired.
Rule 8 Spread your tactics, extend your issues keep momentum and ratchet up greater pressure on your opponent to cause a reaction.
Rule 9 Never underestimate the power of threats, even a losing poker hand can be played to win the game and cause the other players to react by folding.
Rule 10 Be ready to offer a solution or Alternative and never be caught with a victory without a plan.
Rule 11Target tangible and specific people or things with a laser beam focus to stay unyielding and undistracted from your main target. Be marksmen and cite the bull’s eye, and ignore all else, focus the frame and gather all marksmen to the same bull’s eye.

These rules have been and continue to be employed in some form or another to the politics of the day whether knowingly or un-wittingly by political puppets and their political puppeteers. How then do those in the crosshairs react, survive, win the argument and defeat their agenda? I list below a partial list of rules I have been taught or have conjured and practiced in my life to try and stay of good character.
Rule 1 Be informed and be educated of the mindset, tactics, intent and ultimate goals of those wishing to align you or malign you. Ignore them and stay strong and respectful in unyielding principle.
Rule 2 Exercise in example everyday those principles of belief you understand to be accorded both to yourself as well as those who are without principle.
Rule 3 Acknowledge but do not accede to the imperfections of your character, opinions and beliefs by accepting defeatism to the ideal. Know that a character that continues to seek elusive perfection always and ever strived for: is a good character kept sound, both with smaller and more modest failings. The ego’s best weapon of attack against sound and moral conscience is rationalization.
Rule 4 “Never wallow in the mud.” An expression I was constantly taught along with, “you are as responsible for your reactions as you are your actions.” Meaning they can throw mud upon you but cannot make you dirty, only when you reach down in that same mud pile and throw it back, are you now both of equal disdain. Actions may be easier to control than reactions, but your responsibility to control them and the consequences that follow them are owned by you equally.
Rule 5 Always remember your glass house when criticizing others but, never be afraid to stand up for what you believe even if it means your house stands alone.
Rule 6 If your head can’t tell you which is more ethical of two or more choices then and only then should your heart be the arbiter.