Newt Gingrich, in his recent speech to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, called President Obama "the most radical President America has ever had."  He describes the Democrat leadership as "secular socialist," and he said that Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, are employing the strong-arm tactics they learned as part of the "Chicago machine" of politics.

Do Americans understand the nature of radicalism in America?  Lately, of necessity, they are learning more than they may ever have wanted or felt a need to know.

In the last few months, conversation on talk radio and television has turned frequently to the subject of growing radicalism in American government, while the people of America themselves are trending more conservative politically.  Here is what Newt Gingrich said in an interview with Cal Thomas for WorldMag.com:

The gap in America between the secular-socialist machine, dominated by an elite, and the rest of us, is breathtaking.  Arthur Brooks has a book coming out this spring called The Battle, in which he uses Gallup data to prove conclusively that there is a 70-30 or better center right majority in the country.  And it is a tribute to the power and capability of the Democrat Party and the incompetence of the Republican Party—it's a dual effort—that you end up with 70 percent of the country being misgoverned by a militant majority.  [For more information on polling data and the secular-socialist machine, go to http://www.newt.org/newt-direct/secular-socialist-machine ]

So what do people mean when they talk of a leader being radical?  Do they mean merely extremist, which could be far to the right or the left of center?  Or do radicals hold to a certain belief system and agenda that is far left of average citizens?  And far different from the government the Founders of the United States of America envisioned in the Constitution?

Definition:
What Gingrich and others refer to as radicalism or the secular/progressive or secular/socialist movement might be defined in this way:  a far-left revolutionary movement that advocates rapid policy shifts and employs extreme measures to overthrow (or, as Obama says, to "transform") the traditional system of government.

Saul Alinsky was the prophet of modern radicalism, having given radicals of the 1960's their guide, called Rules for Revolutionaries, which was later reprinted as Rules for Radicals.  Few people realize that Barack Obama was a student and disciple of Alinsky's theories or that ACORN is a front for radicalism in America.  Of course, with the major media's help, Obama was able to keep the extent of his radical roots and connections from the American people in the last Presidential election.  Obama was not only a student of the Alinsky method under teachers trained by the secret Industrial Areas Foundations, but he also taught such workshops himself.

When the American people realize the radical background of our President's training and associations, it will become easier to identify and trace his policies back to their radical roots.  We will be able to understand where he and others in his cabinet and within the Democrat Party (which has been hijacked by radicals) want to take us.  And then we can have some hope of defeating radicalism and returning America to the true meanings of democracy and freedom described by the Constitution and understood by previous generations.  Only when we understand what we stand to lose by ignorance and inattention to preserving freedom will we be energized to save our great nation and its Constitutional government.

Coming next:  How to Identify a Radical