The Art of Political War: And Other Radical Pursuits

"A virtue when pressed to the extreme may turn into a vice. Unreasonable devotion to an ideal, without considering the practical application of it, ruins the ideal itself."--Dr. Boyd K. PackerThis book is somewhere between a MANIFESTO; a "how-to" article on political action and expressing your MESSAGE; and a radon-alarm blazing in the night calling on conservatives to claim their MANDATE from the people to act.This book is divide into five parts.Part I, "The Art of Political War," is a wake-up call to conservatives that they need to "play the game of politics better." You cannot enact your agenda if you are not in power-end of discussion! He wisely points out that our target demographic is not other conservatives, or our hard-core members, but the undecided. And that we have to speak the language of these undecided constituent. The medium we have to deal with, especially the thirty-second sound-bite. In addition, he encourages us to be more viral and robust in standing for what we believe. This section is a must for anyone who wants to win an election. If you would rather sit on the side and complain and feel good about yourself in your idleness, then this section is not for you.Part II deals with the censorship issue and what happens when conservatives allow censorship.Part III is called "Hating Whitey," and being Caucasian myself, I don't mind the phrase. In the essays, Mr. Horowitz pulls upon his associations with the Black Panthers to explain why the racial dialogue is so stymied today, and how the militant black have co-opted Dr. King's peaceful dream.Tangentially speaking, I am also of Irish decent (Carmony), and am not offended by Notre Dame's Logo, or as a Latter-day Saint, by the mascot of New Orleans football team, nor as a decedent of Danes am I offended by Minnesota's mascot, or as a Scot (Clan McBride), do I take umbrage to the "Scrooge McDuck" or "Groundskeeper Willie" stereotypes!Part IV discusses the over-all culture war and radical pursuits of the left, its origins in academia and how the militant radical sustain their '60's agenda even today.Part V contains personal essays about how the death of his associate at the hands of the Black Panthers led to his eventual disillusionment with the radical left. His turn-around had been so complete he has guest-hosted Limbaugh's radio program.I admire people for their ideas, not their past, or skin color, or place of origin. So I can revel in an Abraham Lincoln as well as a Ravi Zacharias. It is ideas, not the man that concerns me!Stylistically, Mr. Horowitz has a gift for writing, what I call "transparent text." His words and syntax do not get in the way of the message. Orson Scott Card and Octavia Butler have this ability; it is almost a mystical experience to read the writing of someone who has this talent. I sure don't have this ability.David has the ability to speak to the heart-- the heart of an issue and the heart of the hearer. It is an ability to "make flesh" many

Modern American politics is a kind warfare without guns. In The Art Of Political War And Other Radical Pursuits, the once radical activist David Horowitz examines how Bill Clinton's generation of "centrist democrats" mastered the art of politics and successfully challenged their conservative opposition through the decade of the 90s. Horowitz surveys the six principles of politics that the left understands and conservatives do not. He then warns against the essentially liberal inclusion to supervise the lives of a dependent citizenry. The Art Of Political War is informative, candid, challenging, insightful, occasionally iconoclastic, and always highly recommended reading for students of the American political system in general, and the past decade of conservative political frustration in particular.

Horowitz has captured in this book what many thoughtful Republicans and observers around the country have attempted to convey for years: Republicans do not communicate their message in a manner that endears them to large blocs of the voting populace, and they do not make their opponents the enemy of those same voting blocs - a practice leftists have perfected over the years. That practice is called The Art of Political War.Horowitz is a concise and relentless thinker, creating hard realities in this book that even the most self-acquitting Republican politico would be hard-pressed to ignore. He makes succinct that Republicans have failed to position themselves on the side of women, minorities and the poor, and as a result have been easily painted as intolerant, mean-spirited and hateful. Electoral results from 1996 and 1998 bear him out on this, and it is clear from this year's Bush effort that some in the GOP are taking heed of his counsel - with the Bush emphasis on the state of education a primary example. Horowitz argues forcefully and thoughtfully that the failure of the US education system can be laid squarely at the feet of the Democratic Party, who have controlled the school boards and city councils of every major city for the last 60 years. He contends that because Democrats are so beholden to the teachers' unions, they will rip away the bottom rungs from poor and minority children in exchange for hordes of campaign cash from the fastest-growing and most undeserving union in the country: the white-collar government worker. He could not be more correct, and the teachers' unions could not be more shameful.I saw on an ad recently where Horowitz' book has been endorsed by Karl Rove, chief strategist to the Bush campaign, as "the perfect guide to winning on the political battlefield by an experienced warrior." Every Republican interested in changing the culture of the party and winning elections should take note, buy this book and read it cover to cover.

This book touches on a new topic - political warfare, the marketing of ideology and how the leftists are winning at it. Horowitz offers some answers why the leftists and liberals are so good at it... the media certainly helps... I'd say scare tactics is #1... Horowitz hints that the right needs to shift back to its old platform of economic independence, personal responsibility and limited government - and work at getting its message across.However, this book leaves you wanting for answers on what the right could do to reverse the trends. Horowitz is probably gearing up for another book. It seems the Machiavellian tactics that Republicans in general have taken is to be all things to all people... Their liberal-conservatives, or "compassionate conservatives" and tolerant of a lukewarm regulatory and welfare state. Historically, they don't win by being liberals.

Horowitz as a former Communist and radical liberal knows how they think, feel and act. He knows all their dirty tricks and how they pull them off. These insights are further developed in his books "The Politics of Bad Faith - The Radical Assault on America's Future" and also in "Hating Whitey and other Progressive Causes".He clearly reveals the underlying principles of Liberals, which apparently many of them do not even recognize. They have a missionary zeal to remake humanity in their image, and remake the country according to their viision - which is drastically different from the founding principles of the United States. The use of smear campaigns and character assisination apparently is acceptable because Conservatives, in their minds, are truly "bad people", and it is "right" to do anything that advances their cause.Like any other utopian scheme, their "Liberalism" is bound to end in disaster, as has Communism and all other forms of totalitarianism and is well on the way in the United States now. I highly recommend this book to anyone who honestly seeks to understand what is going on politically, and why things have been going as they have.