Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Building a Neighborhood Political Organization

I was a grown man in my mid thirties who spent much of my time complaining about crooked politicians and no-nothing voters until I found this book in the local Mormon thrift store. Plunkitt didn't do his own writing but he had a guy follow him around keeping notes then one day the guy wrote down what he had learned by following Plunkitt around.

I have supplemented my understanding with other material but one thing is certain Plunkitt really understood how things work and what you had to do if you wanted things to work your way. He helped people solve problems that otherwise couldn't be solved and he made quite a bit of money while doing so, he figured that if you had special knowledge then you should put it to work for you.

Now Tammany Hall was a very special political action committee. it started about the time of the American Revolution and is named for a Delaware Indian Chief named Tammany, many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were members but since it was a Secret Society which protected itself with pseudonyms and passwords, they had to do this in order to protect themselves from the British, no one knows for sure just who was a member and who was not. It was started in Philadelphia but by the mid 19th century it was the Primary Democratic Party Cadre Organization headquartered in New York City. Tammany Hall was the local hang out of all significant Democrats, the guys who really ran things.

Well it's an interesting book, many successful American politicians have studied this book and have been amply rewarded for their efforts.

You can download a copy of the book here: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/plnth10.txt

I also recommend Exemplar of Liberty http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/EoL/