Category Archives: class warfare

by Barry Kelly | February 18, 2015 · 7:54 am

INSIGHTS 190 — THE DANGER TO AMERICA IS WITHIN

It is time to recognize the truth.

For the first time since the Revolution and the Civil War, I believe the greatest danger to our nation is coming from within. The outside threats to our way of life are formidable, but we can handle them once the danger from within is defeated.

This danger from within is the Obama administration. It has a drive to destroy the America so many of us have fought and worked for and died for.

It is hard to blame President Obama solely. He did tell us exactly what he was going to do. And it was clear. Obama’s transformation of America was nothing less than substituting a republic that encouraged the growth of a fledgling colony into a world power with a socialist, elite-led system of government.

People get the government they deserve. We are all to blame but not equally. Those of you who voted twice for the Obama progressive regime and who still are making excuses for his actions bear most of the blame.

We have a strong socialist percentage of citizens in America. These are the people who welcomed Obama as a transcendental leader who would cure all of America’s faults, starting with the transfer of wealth among citizens and also among nations. The core of the progressive philosophy is to share the wealth according to a long-held dream of Marxists. It makes no difference that this scheme has never worked on any scale.

Without wealth, nations can have no physical power. Obama is dedicated to making America just another nation in an international organization. I believe Obama intends to destroy our military power. He believes his words can bring about a much better world than we had before his rise to power. He’s had four secretaries of defense in six years. I believe he has wasted more American blood and wealth than any other president — and he isn’t done yet.

His weakness and failure to see the world as it is has brought us closer to global conflict than anytime since the end of WWII. Peace doesn’t come from weakness. It comes from strength and the principles that made us what we used to be. Obama and his progressive followers would have been right at home in England when Chamberlain returned from a meeting with Adolph Hitler, saying to great acclaim that he had assured “peace for our time.” Obama, I believe, has given us enough signals that he is approaching Iran with the same Chamberlain mentality. Hitler’s armies paid no more attention to the Chamberlain agreement than the Iranians will to any agreement with Obama when they get nuclear weapons and mate them with their developing ICBM missiles. Seeing the world as you believe it to be instead of what it actually is is only a great danger if you are the president of the United States.

President Obama’s dealings with Iran, ISIS, and Putin’s Russia can only result in more aggression and a greater threat of war. One thing is certain — we cannot survive a war with this president as our commander-in-chief. My belief that Obama is the greatest danger from within we have faced since the Civil War is based on more than just his international failures. He is corrupting the civil service, the military Joint Chiefs structure, abusing the Constitution, the separation of powers doctrine, and is deliberately handicapping economic recovery to further his divisive messaging of class warfare and racism. He cannot be impeached with nearly half the population still in favor of his presidency, a media that is friendly beyond reason to Obama’s progressivism, and a republican leadership that is no match for Obama’s messaging.

The next two years will be very hard. We need to do everything legally possible to delay Obama’s brand of transformation.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “Quiet Justice,” a new novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out by mid March.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, global warming, Intelligence & Politics, ISIS, Obama, Politics, Progressives, Putin, Russia

Tagged as America, danger, Obama

by Barry Kelly | October 21, 2014 · 7:30 am

INSIGHTS 167 — CONSERVATIVE VIEWS

How far apart are conservatives’ and liberals’ political beliefs? Can the two ideologies ever work together to run the country and produce bi-partisan legislation?

The core values of the liberals and conservative values are made up of a mixture of myths, traditions, interpretations of the Constitution, and views ingrained in respective cultural exposures. The respective core values of liberals and conservatives are not easily put aside. Thirty or forty years ago, I wouldn’t have thought the dividing line was so hard to cross. After all, I was once a strong Democrat, a member of the NAACP, and suspicious of capitalism.

Now that President Obama has succeeded in dividing the people into two angry camps with his income distribution, class warfare, and anti-business rhetoric, the nation is more divided than at anytime since the War for Independence and the Civil War when families, towns, and states were divided into Tories or revolutionaries, slavery or non-slavery states, and unionists or secessionists.

President Obama and his progressive party have helped me understand how members of the same family could pick up arms against each other and fight to the death. People only reach those extremes when their core beliefs are threatened. For people to feel so strongly, they have to believe their nation, way of life, freedoms, and futures will be destroyed if the opponent wins. As a conservative, I believe we are approaching that point. Two more terms of the progressive party would continue the breakdown of constitutional barriers, our two-party system, individual freedom, our national security, and national sovereignty and would certainly destroy the America I know and love.

What are the conservative core values? The starting point is that conservatives mistrust government and believe the bigger the government becomes the more it is distrusted. Why? Because it is only the government that can take away our individual and collective freedoms.

A federal government is necessary, but the difference between liberals and conservatives is how big the government should be and what it should do. Conservatives believe that the federal government should only do what the states or people (the public sector) cannot. The job of our representatives is to constantly adjust the size and scope of government to protect rather than diminish freedom. This historic distrust of government is what fathered the Second Amendment guaranteeing the people’s right to bear arms. The best explanation of this right, to me, is that slave owners had guns, slaves did not. Every totalitarian government has always taken weapons away from the people. Anyone wonder why?

Conservatives believe capitalism is the only economic system that allows people to establish and run commercial enterprises that provides growth to the national economy and jobs for the nation’s workers without endangering individual freedoms as a socialist- or communist-managed economy always has. Capitalism is not a perfect system and it needs some regulation but it is the only economic system that meshes with the power of the free market.

Another core conservative belief is that individuals are better stewards of their money than the government. Therefore, taxes should be as low as possible. Low taxes enable more savings and spending by people that feeds the growth of the economy. Everyone with an income should pay some income tax. Higher taxes on the rich are acceptable as long as they are fair and far short of confiscatory. Death taxes are unacceptable. They are clearly part of a redistribution of wealth program. No card-carrying conservative believes a government can spend its way out of a depression or recession. Government spending does not create wealth. Also, no corporation is too big to fail. Government bailouts waste the nation’s wealth.

Welfare for those who need assistance such as the very young, disabled, aged is necessary. Social Security, a program fought by conservatives during FDR’s tenure, has turned out to be a good program. It needs to be made solvent by some simple changes. In FDR’s time, 65 was old. No more. The age of qualifying for social security needs to be gradually increased. Again, that is the kind of thing our representatives are sent to Washington to work out.

Conservatives believe in a strong national defense and distrust any move toward giving any part of our sovereignty to any international organization.

For most of our brief history we have managed to govern by parties with different core beliefs working together for the good of the people. I believe we can get back there. My personal belief is that term limits on our senators and representatives would make all this much easier. Professional politicians, regardless of party affiliation, are too engrossed in their own careers and re-election politics at the expense of the nation.

Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. If you think this message is important, please share it.

INSIGHTS 166: UNDERSTANDING THE RELIGION

To understand your opponent’s beliefs, you need to take the time to identify their core beliefs. Today, I’ll look at what I believe are the core beliefs of those who are left of center along the political divide.

All of us must recognize that the core beliefs of political parties, religions, social groups, and even sports teams have beliefs that are a mixture of facts, myths, tradition, and emotional ‘need-to-believe’ items. I believe the core values or beliefs of liberals start with the tenet that capitalism is essentially evil and it needs constant and extensive regulation to mitigate the damage that it does. Certainly the liberal/progressives working in the Obama administration have pumped out thousands of regulations that affect commercial activities of corporations and small businesses. For everyone to ‘have a fair shot’ like the liberals want, they believe capitalism must be drastically controlled.

The pay gap between CEOs and workers must be reduced. Liberals believe in deficit financing because it is necessary to fund welfare programs and other important government spending. Keynesian monetary policies, based on the belief that a nation can spend its way to prosperity, are a mainstay of liberal economics. This theory was extensively tried during FDR’s terms. FDR’s Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. finally convinced his boss that deficit financing was not working. Nevertheless, ‘spending to prosperity’ is still a core liberal/progressive belief.

The liberal core belief on tax policy is that taxes on the rich and corporations should be high enough to fund extensive welfare programs. They are not concerned about the number of people on welfare. A high percentage of the population on welfare and paying no income taxes is a good thing. The government is doing the right thing when it takes care of people by welfare programs. This belief does not make the connection between high taxes on the rich and corporations and the failure of the economy to grow and produce jobs. Tax policy is a primary tool to income redistribution. Interestingly enough, liberals never point out the high salaries being paid to Hollywood and sports figures. They receive their wealth because they earn it when the rest of us are willing to pay for the products they produce. This is capitalism but it doesn’t apply to other commercial ventures.

The necessity for big government with increased centralization of government is another core belief of liberals. To manage education, commerce, welfare, law enforcement, health care, communications, and tax collection, a large centralized federal government is necessary. Liberals believe big government is not a bad thing for it protects and enhances freedom and individual choice.

The ‘big government is good’ belief does not extend to the Department of Defense. Nearly all liberals believe the defense budget should be cut and the savings allocated to welfare programs. Sounds good, but the basic responsibility of the government is to protect the people. The connection between cutting defense and reducing the ability of the government to defend us is not made. Even today President Obama is moving forward with his goal of cutting the armed forces back to pre-WWII levels.

Liberals/progressives believe that a small elite group of liberals can better manage the government than the free-for-all political system set up by the Constitution and years of tradition. This is why the liberal media and universities do not do their job of keeping government honest. Our founders knew liberty requires eternal vigilance. This belief is not part of the core beliefs held by the liberal/progressive elite in America.

Perhaps the biggest plank in the liberal platform is a deep guilt about American wealth and power. Why else would students studying at Harvard, recently vote that America is a bigger threat to world peace than ISIS? My worry is that by the time these smart wonderful kids learn the truth about their country and the world, it will be too late for them and the rest of us.

INSIGHTS 157 — WHO’S TO BLAME FOR OUR MESS? PART 1

beforeitsnews.com

Most Americans seem to realize the country is in a mess, both domestically and internationally. The evidence is clear to all but the fringe true believers who have totally closed their minds to new or conflicting information.

You don’t have to look far. We have fewer people in the workforce than anytime in the last eight years. Wages have not keep pace with inflation. More people are on food stamps and their numbers are growing faster than ever before. The dollar is losing strength. Only those who can afford to make investments in the stock market are doing better than okay. The president’s Qualitative Easing program has pumped varying amounts as high as 86 billion dollars a month into the economy for the last several years, creating an artificial stock market for the well-to-do, but widened the gap between the haves and have-nots. The progressives have created an ideal economy for their class warfare rhetoric.

Tax reform has been ignored. Social programs and debt servicing are eating deeply into the gross national product and getting worse each year. Obamacare has yet to find a niche where it is actually helping people. Regulations are killing business and driving American corporations overseas in search of friendly business locations. Government is growing at a rate far beyond what is necessary. Power is accruing to the executive branch. The separation of powers contained in the Constitution is being rapidly eroded. Congress, largely due to its timidness, is becoming irrelevant. At least the progressives in charge know where they are driving the country. The Republicans do not.

If anything good is happening domestically, it is hard to find. The president, the attorney general and profession racists raise the race flag at every opportunity. The once-prestigious New York Times and Washington Post have become ideological supporters of the progressive agenda. Selective omission and slanting of the news is an everyday affair.

Our universities are no longer bastions of free thinking and speech. They too are turning out left-wing ideologues, rather than graduates who have learned to question orthodoxy and think outside the box. Pride in America is hard to find in progressive ranks and the history of our country is, according to Obama’s progressives, something we must apologize for. The progressive party refers to our armed forces in Iraq as an occupying force. At a time of real dangers in the world, President Obama is cutting the armed forces back to pre-WWII levels.

Internationally, nothing done by the president’s direction has gone right. First, the do-nothing but travel everywhere secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and the “never saw a situation he couldn’t make worse” John Kerry, have made a shambles out negations with Iran, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinians, Russia, China, Europe, and the Middle East. If there ever was gang in the White House that couldn’t shoot straight, this is it. Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Benghazi come to mind. The foreign policy list of unbelievable gaffs could go on much longer.

Read my next blog to find out who is to blame for all this mess. Coming later this week.

Do you like and understand what you’re reading? Share it with your friends and leave me comments here or on Amazon. I read them! You can also visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. This content and more is available in my latest book, “INSIGHTS: Transforming America.”

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Tagged as Benghazi, Bush, class warfare, Congress, Iran, iraq, Middle East, transformation, White House

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EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 122

The Myth

When I think about the number of our citizens who voted twice for the Progressive agenda of Barack Obama and who probably would give him a third or lifetime term, it is simply frightening. His supporters are not all from the have-nots of our economy, but he couldn’t win without their vote. Those who have bought into the welfare state from need, guilt, or a belief in the paradise that progressives promise they will build in America, will vote for the progressive slate every time they go to the voting poll. Why? What are the factors that allow the progressive myth to live on?

It is a popular version of the Robin Hood myth. From comic books, to classic literature, religious writings from before capitalism, to the barrage of film industry escapism, nearly all villains are wealthy and do terrible things to get richer. This story line is so deep that the celluloid actors and actresses who make millions from acting in these make-believe stories, with a few exceptions, provide funds and personal support to the progressive agenda. They believe in the myth that progressives can build a better society here on earth. Their zeal is matched by that of the people we entrust with the education of our youth. Great American universities have become the spawning grounds of millions of young people who have been fed the progressive myth, semester after semester.

Beyond conservative talk radio, a few television channels and an occasional best-selling book there is no counter-balancing message to the progressive religion. What is the essence, the core belief of this secular religion? There are a number of myths, but the pillar of the progressive church is the myth that human nature can be changed under a rigid leadership of a progressive elite. The elite can pass laws and regulations that will be enforced relentlessly until there is no longer a need for enforcement. People will now live in a society where the principle of distribution of wealth is not dependent on birth or ability or hard work.

There will be no exceptional citizens. Only the ruling elite is exempt from the rules and regulations. There will be no winners or losers. We will all be equal. Individual freedom is sacrificed for the good of all people. This is not theory. It is history for the few who bother to read about the paradise Lenin, Marx, and Stalin brought to Russia, or Mao tse Tung brought to China, or Castro to Cuba. There are many other examples. Several such communities were tried in America. All socialist, progressive, communist societies have failed or are failing. Whatever they call themselves, they all worship the same myth.

The essence of the myth is not complicated. Progressives believe that people cannot be trusted to make life decisions, develop and manage small businesses or large corporations without constant regulation and taxation to distribute wealth to all. To them, all entrepreneurs are evil, self-seeking people who want to exploit their fellow citizens by giving them jobs that further enrich the people who started the businesses. These business leaders then amass political influence and use their power to influence elections.

The major difference between conservatives and progressives is that conservatives believe that the larger government becomes the more dangerous it is to individual freedom. People who run corporations or manage large government agencies or departments are imbued with the same basic human instincts, love, greed, guilt, faults, and the rest of our human limitations. In the progressive myth, private businesses and market functions need extensive regulations. But government by a progressive elite, though also managed by people with the same human instincts, does not need any check or balance. The inherent good sense and wisdom of the progressive elite managers of government will give us paradise on earth.

An over-reaching corporation can be rather easily controlled and, at its worst, will not destroy individual freedom. In government by a perpetual progressive elite there is no individual freedom. Change often requires a revolt by the people. The progressive myth always has an ugly end game. The Obama regime is already acting like a managing one-party-elite. Have you noticed the IRS, Justice, HHS, the EPA, and other federal departments over stepping their traditional limits of authority and, most ominously, the unprecedented use of Executive authority ignoring the Constitutional role of the Congress? Do not believe the myth. It will enslave all of us. If you are a believer in big government, your conservative credentials are severely tarnished.

For more on the progressive agenda, check out my first non-fiction book: “Insights: Transforming America — is this what we fought for?” available at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.