The original Cloward-Piven Strategy, born in a 1966 article in The Nation magazine, was to overwhelm the welfare system by flooding the rolls with new recipients. The government would not be able to keep up (this was a time when a government could actually go bankrupt), the system would crash and a Democratic presidential administration would be “forced” to implement a “guaranteed annual income” for Americans.
Fast forward to the 21st Century. America’s in the midst of a home foreclosure crisis.
Piven’s new strategy? Force the government and banks to deal with the problem by convincing approximately two million people to refuse to leave their homes. ACORN has been implementing this strategy with its Home Defenders program.
Is it possible ACORN sting man James O’Keefe could have spoiled the implementation of this new strategy? The O’Keefe-Giles videos surfaced at precisely the right time to disrupt the Home Defenders scheme.
The organization was rocked by the major scandal and knocked on its heels politically and financially.
Will Piven’s new strategy work? Will another group fill in where ACORN left off? Will ACORN be able to regather to still take advantage of the on-going crisis? Time will tell. Hopefully Americans will recognize and reject her plan so another 1970s New York City story will be averted.