Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The "Judeo-Christian tradition" of selfishness?

Happened to spot this press release (excerpt only here) while trolling the wire services yesterday afternoon:

"Rules for Conservative Radicals," a New Book by Michael Patrick Leahy, Shows
How "Buycotts" and Tea Parties Can Change the Political Landscape

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 01, 2009-- As the Health Care Reform Town Hall meetings and Tea Parties heat up and the August Congressional summer session winds down, conservatives finally have a play book to help them gain traction on the slippery slope to socialism that they feel this country appears to be heading. "Rules for Conservative Radicals," written by Michael Patrick Leahy takes the Alinsky viewpoints expressed in "Rules for Radicals," and puts a moral, ethical, conservative spin on them.

"The problem that conservatives have with Alinsky is that, for him, the ends justified the means," explains Leahy. "I’m suggesting that we take the successful Alinsky rules, we update them, apply them to new social networking technology, and implement them in the Judeo-Christian tradition."

Hmmm... what Judeo-Christian tradition would that be?

This one?
"He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor."
This one?
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."
Or maybe this one?
"There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need."

(Credit where due: I got a leg up on this topic from a post by Monte Asbury at "The Least, First."

3 comments:

Comments on this blog are moderated retroactively. Comments will be published immediately, but spam, slander, abuse personally directed at other commenters or at third parties, or comments that hijack the thread will be removed without further discussion, explanation or apology. Comments that I am unable to read (for whatever reason) will be deleted.

Comments that challenge the viewpoints expressed here within the bounds of civility and good manners are welcome. Blogger limits comments to 4,096 characters.