Chicago-Style Politicking Ruins the Electoral Process

By Reverend Louis P. Sheldon

Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

Washington, DC -- William Daley, Al Gore's campaign manager, has learned politicking from one of the best: his late father, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. It was Daley who is widely known as one of the major influences in making certain that John F. Kennedy won his presidential race against Richard Nixon in 1960.

Richard Daley manipulated the system to assure that Kennedy won the election by orchestrating a voter fraud scam. Presidential historian Robert Dalleck, in an interview on National Public Radio in early November, put it this way: "There's no question that with Daley and Cook County (Chicago), there was some ballot box tampering or stuffing or voting in the graveyard, however you want to put it, because before the final result was known, Daley sent word to Kennedy folks that Illinois was in the bag, was in his camp." Stuffing the ballot box and casting votes on behalf of the dead were two tactics used by Richard Daley for Kennedy.

William Daley certainly learned the art of Chicago politics well from his father. The Gore campaign has also benefited from another Chicago activist: Jesse Jackson. It is Jackson who is always available to the Democrat Party to foment racial tensions and to bring the topic of "racism" into any political campaign. Jackson and his co-agitator Al Sharpton, have both attempted to ignite racial animosities in the Florida election.

Daley, Jackson, and Sharpton appear to be following the revolutionary tactics advocated by yet another Chicago militant: the late Saul Alinsky.

Alinsky, a life-long Marxist, was a Chicago organizer who was dedicated to winning at all cost. He once wrote, "The most unethical of all means, is the non-use of any means." In simple terms, "Do whatever it takes to win." If that means lying, cheating, and stealing--so be it. Win at any cost.

Alinsky dedicated his book, Rules for Radicals, to Lucifer, who, notes Alinsky, "is the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom."

Saul Alinsky's strategies are clearly at work in Florida. One of his teachings is that "Truth is relative and changing." We are seeing this in the behavior of Gore operatives who change election rules after the fact and redefine "dimpled chads" as votes for Al Gore. Another Alinsky dictim teaches that "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." The vicious attack against Katherine Harris is a prime example of this tactic. One of Alinsky's more memorable comments is this: "To hell with charity. The only thing you get is what you're strong enough to get--so you had better organize."

The spirit of Saul Alinsky is alive and well in Florida's election battle. His spirit is also alive and well in the heart of Senator-elect Hillary Clinton. Alinsky was a friend and mentor to Hillary. In fact, she adored this Marxist so much that she wrote her senior college thesis on Alinsky's organizing tactics and strategies. Mrs. Clinton's adoption of Alinsky's radical philosophy is detailed in Barbara Olson's book, Hell to Pay. What we are seeing in Florida is only a foretaste of what we can expect in the Senate once Hillary Clinton begins pushing her Alinskyite vision upon the rest of us. We are all going to have "hell to pay" from New York's junior Senator.

Traditional Values Coalition is an inter-denominational public policy organization comprising over 43,000 member churches. For more information call Christy Moore at (202) 547-8570. TVC, 139 C Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. Web address: www.traditionalvalues.org.