Government · Sacramento, CA Metro · August 26, 2026
CA Bill Would Set New Religious-Liberty Standard for Tribal Practices
What Alinsky tactic is being used
2 of the thirteen rules are in play here — campaigns rarely run just one.
Rule 4
“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
The campaign's own framing is built on holding California to its stated commitment to religious liberty: the sponsor's release says the bill would align state law with principles affirming Indigenous access to and protection of sacred sites "provided to other faiths," and Ramos grounds the argument in the state's own documented history of banning Native religious practice. That is Rule 4 in its cleanest form — the state is being asked to live up to the free-exercise book of rules it already claims to keep. The bill then converts that appeal into enforceable machinery: a compelling-interest test, standing to sue, and a duty on the Department of General Services and Capitol Protective Section.
Counter-Rule 4 · Radical Integrity
Close the gap between stated values and actual practice before anyone else finds it. This tactic only works where the gap is real.
For a Christian reader the counter is to close the gap on your own side before pointing at anyone else's: read the operative section on leginfo and ask honestly whether you would want that same standard applied to your congregation on state property. If yes, say so publicly and support it for everyone; if your church has quietly accepted restrictions it never documented, write them down now with dates and the name of the official who imposed them. Consistency asserted in advance cannot be used against you later.
Rule 12
“The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.”
The advocates did not stop at grievance — they paired the historical indictment with a drafted statute containing specific replacement mechanisms: documented free, prior and informed consent before state-land projects that risk sacred sites, confidentiality of sacred-site information exempt from the Public Records Act, and instructions to the Capitol Protective Section on handling regalia. More than 100 leaders on the West Steps was the visible part; the constructive alternative was the bill text. That combination is why it moved 65-0 on the Assembly floor with no reported opposition.
Counter-Rule 12 · Universal Construction
The book agrees with this one rather than inverting it: if you would tear something down, you are obliged to build the thing that replaces it.
If you have concerns about the bill's confidentiality exemption or its limitation to one class of claimant, the obligation this rule imposes is to draft the better version rather than just object. Ask your legislator's office in writing what a faith-neutral version would require, and put your own proposal on paper — one page, specific sections. Showing up to a hearing with an amendment carries weight; showing up with only a complaint does not.
Chapter 3 sets out the rules; Chapter 15 answers each of them in turn. This is that pairing applied to this story.
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