Category Archives: Conservative views

by Barry Kelly | August 17, 2015 · 7:52 am

INSIGHTS 224 — THE ADVISOR ASKS THE PRESIDENT WHY DOESN’T HE GOVERN?

It was late at night when the President stopped in to talk with the Advisor. The Advisor thought as he sat down, He has put up with my pointed questions on our last several meetings. If he is still willing to talk about what I think must be touchy areas for him, I might as well push a little harder.

The Advisor said, “Mr. President, I have two basic areas I would like to hear you talk about. Are you okay to continue with my questions? It is not often anyone gets to really talk to a president about controversial subjects. You are a very different kind of president.”

The President nodded as he lit up a cigarette. The Advisor asked, “Mr. President, I often hear your critics asking things like, ‘Why doesn’t he govern? He doesn’t seem able to solve any problems. He just talks and never fixes anything. In fact, he often makes any problem worse by his rhetoric.’ How would you answer these complaints?”

The President laughed and said, “They just don’t understand. I’m not trying to solve problems to make their lives better or to maintain or increase American economic or military power. I’m doing just the reverse and my critics, especially those professional politicians in Congress, do not have a clue. They are still playing a game that no longer exists. But it’s the only one they know, so they keep playing the same cards over and over again and expect different results. What is that type of thinking called? It is called insane. They are so predictable it takes what little challenge they might have to my authority meaningless.

“I focus on the issues, whatever they are, and will take any position that increases my ability to use the issue to weaken the opposing side. They don’t seem to have a clue to what is happening. I’m well on the way to bringing this bastion of capitalism and individual freedom to a socialist economic and political system of government, one to the left of the European model, and the professional politicians believe I’m just a poor leader. An unfair description because I’m not even trying to be a leader. Here is progress in my plan,” the President said, putting his cigarette in the ashtray and counting off on his fingers. “Increase the debt to intolerable levels, raise taxes to destroy capitalism, if you can’t keep or use what you earn as a greedy business person, why struggle, increase numbers of people dependent on government, take over industry by regulation, control education, banking, the medical system, and make international law into the American justice system.

“Name anyone of my executive departments and I’ll show you an inept, by past standards, group of officials that can’t seem to get anything done right. There are no traditional accomplishments to point to. My slogan is that ‘worse is better.’ The IRS, EPA, DHS, HHS, VA and all the other departments of my executive look like bumbling fools. And some of them are. Some know or suspect my plan, others are just incompetent and that is good. Their job, whether they know it or not, is to make things so bad that socialist policies will look good and be embraced by the population.

“If I had four more years, I could complete the job. This two-term limit is very difficult to get around. The person who follows me must be a true believer, like Hillary, or just a natural bumbler like the rest. Hillary is a true believer, even more than I, in the Alinsky doctrine. Unfortunately, her Clinton money genes are rapidly making her unelectable. May have to do something about that. I should have told you my time for this visit was short. I have to go now. I’m not finished yet. I’ll be back.”

When the President left, the Advisor said, out loud, “This man is really dangerous and I can’t even tell anyone. He knows that. Otherwise he wouldn’t be so candid. I doubt the people in the future whlo read my journals will believe I’ve accurately reported this meeting.”

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

The author’s latest Jack Brandon novel, “ISIS: Quiet Justice,” is available at your local book store and in ebook format from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Follow the author on Twitter at @factsfictions80.

Leave a comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Capitalism, Clinton, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as Obama, policy, politics, socialism

by Barry Kelly | August 7, 2015 · 10:59 pm

INSIGHTS 221 — THE ADVISOR ASKS WHAT MADE YOU DO IT.

The Advisor thought finally the President and I are getting comfortable talking about real issues. He has loosened up in the last few sessions. He knows I’m no threat and I won’t betray his candid responses to my questions. Hope he is in a talkative mood tonight. He should be here in another few minutes. I think he makes a real effort to be more or less on time and I appreciated it. He glanced up at the passageway monitor and saw the President and Chris approaching his door. Funny he has never commented on the wording on the old brass plaque. Even I don’t know its background. Maybe it is contained somewhere in the early journals. The only was to search them is to go thru them one by one. I just don’t have the time for that.

“Welcome Mr. President. Have you had a good day?”

“Can’t remember when. Everyday I get several problems that should never reach the Oval Office. I don’t know if some of my staff are afraid or just too limited to handle the problems on their own. The problems, or rather issues, that I handle always get some bad press. Fortunately I have very few consistent critics in the media. Some of them have gone out of their way to be supportive. Okay, you have some questions for me?”

“Yes I do Mr. President. Some of them are not important in the writing of history but I want to ask you why you did certain things that even your supporters do not seem to understand. My first questions is, why have you spent so much energy and time on closing Guantanamo Bay?”

“Well, the first thing is that I made a campaign promise to close this sore spot on our international record as a freedom loving nation. Gitmo is a prison and a place of torture. Students of international law believe it is a place that has no place in the twenty-first century. We can detain criminals in prisons in the Continental United States where my Attorney-General can protect their rights, examine the evidence, and bring them to trial under the American system of justice.”

“But, surely, there are cases when it would be appropriate to detain and try terrorist prisoners captured on the field of battle?”

“I just don’t trust the military to run trials of our enemies. Their rules of evidence, procedure, and concern for the rights of the accused do not meet my standards. I want America to look toward my leadership in prosecuting criminals, not the Pentagon.”

“We have both studied the law, both constitutional and international. Don’t you see the impossibility of collecting evidence, taking statements from witnesses and yet following the strict rules required by our courts regarding the chain of accountability and custody of evidence from the crime scene to the court room?”

“If we can’t get a conviction on the main charges, we’ll have to settle for prosecuting them for lesser crimes. If the military can’t or won’t meet the standards of American justice, they shouldn’t be conducting trials or detaining prisoners for years without charging and trying them.”

“Mr. President, there must be more than that.”

“Yes, in this room there is one more big one. Gitmo is a wonderful issue for me to use campaigning to attack conservatives. My base loves this issue. Elections are not won on facts. They are won by picking good issues and building them into major points. The time the conservatives spend defending Gitmo means they are playing by my rules and they can’t win. Take the Bergdorf guy who deserted his post and was held by the Taliban for years. He wasn’t important to anything, but he gave me a perfect opportunity to get five more top terrorists out of Gitmo. There was no other way I could justify their release. Who could argue sending those five criminals to one of the Gulf States for safe keeping. Who cares where they end up? Sorry I can’t continue but I must go. Thank you for the coffee and conversation. They were both good.”

As the steel door closed, the Advisor thought if you don’t want the answer, don’t ask the question. This may have been one of those times. Absolutely scary. No one would believe what I just heard. Especially since his words had the ring of truth. Get ready for an Executive Order to give Guantanamo Bay to the Castro’s.

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

The author’s latest Jack Brandon novel, ISIS Quiet Justice, is available at your local book store and in ebook format from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Follow the author on Twitter at @factsfictions80.

Leave a comment

Filed under Alinsky, Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, General, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions, Politics, Terrorism

by Barry Kelly | August 1, 2015 · 7:31 am

INSIGHTS 220 The Advisor and the President discuss the civil service

The President was back just two days after he had to leave in the middle of The Advisor’s question about the politicization of the Civil Service. The President lit his secret cigarette and said, “This is the only place in the White House I can smoke without getting hard looks or worse. And this is so far underground I’m not sure I’m still in the White House. Okay, you were asking me about my use of the Civil Service. Right?”

“Yes. I was wondering if you see how much you have politicized the Civil Service?”

“Of course. It is my Civil Service. Why should they not do what I want them to do? Notice I said want them to do, not what I tell them to do. That is the difference.”

“You make it sound as if by some magic all members of the service know what you would like them to do and they do it.”

“No magic involved. All Civil Service members take direction from appointed officials. I appoint them and I only appoint those who I know will follow my progressive ideology. Most Civil Service employees like their jobs and want to keep them. They also work hard to get good evaluations, earn promotions and bonuses, and to justify the size and scope of their unit. Their loyalty is to their units and to the Civil Service Union. No one has to tell them to follow the president’s lead. They have always acted the same way. I just have been more careful to make sure the leaders I appointed are doing their jobs.”

“You sound as if you have studied organizational structure and the behavior of workers in large organizations.”

“What’s to study? That’s the way I think. For example, I don’t have to tell civil employees to grow their organizations or to expand. The government doesn’t grow because some president wants it to. It grows unless some president works hard to control or stop the growth. In my case, I want the government to continue to grow. I need it to really transform the country.”

“Why then are you cutting the size of our military forces?”

“Even as the commander-in-chief, I don’t have the same power over the military as I do over the civilian workforce. I cannot put my people all through the uniformed military. Also their command structure is very tight. I have strategic influence but people loyal to me and my transformation goals are not in the day-to-day operational decision making. The military forces are not supporting my progressive goals. I am growing the power of the Civil Service for they are a willing ally in transforming America. I am cutting the size and power of the military because they are and have been an evil force used to project American power into less fortunate and smaller nations. To bring the military under control, I must reduce their size.”

“Then you say you are not breaking any laws by the way the IRS, the EPA, Justice, HHS, Veterans Affairs or Homeland Security have conducted their activities?”

“Right. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing; therefore, no crime.”

“What about the failure or unwillingness of the FBI to investigate the wrongdoing of the IRS and the failure of the Immigration Service to enforce the law?”

“You don’t seem to understand. The FBI has no charter or legal standing to investigate when there is no evidence a crime has been committed. Under my Justice Department, the FBI is not going out looking for things to investigate. They do work for the attorney general, and she works for the president.”

“What about the precedent of the Watergate affair and the erased tapes in the Nixon administration that led to his resignation?”

“Wouldn’t have happened under me. Nixon failed to understand how to use the law without being directly involved and the media did the investigating, not the FBI. Nixon and most Republicans have never understood how to use the media.”

Mr. President, I’m afraid I have exceeded my time.”

“No problem. I’m enjoying these sessions and I really think you are trying to understand me. Also, I want my record in your journal to be clear. See you next week but I don’t know when.”

With that, the President left with Chris who was patiently waiting in the dim passageway, and they retraced his steps to the above ground White House.

The Advisor opened his journal and began to record the last session. As he was writing in his journal, he thought, this man is delusional but very clever and dangerous.

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

Leave a comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, centralization, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, management theory, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

by Barry Kelly | July 21, 2015 · 7:14 am

INSIGHTS 218 THE ADVISOR’S TURN

The Advisor thought back to the last time the ancient vault door had opened to the president’s touch. I was very hard on the president, he thought. I’m supposed to be his confidant and even his helper. I’ve failed in those regards. Perhaps more than any of my esteemed predecessors. They all had problems. Presidents are not easy to work with. But how can I help him if he listens but never takes my advice? I swear at times I think he comes here as if he was a Catholic going to confessional. It’s not something he likes but he believes he must do it. I feel for his above-ground advisors. He is not a happy president. I’ll step back today if I get the right opening.

The Advisor glanced up at one of his many screens and saw the President was approaching his door. He checked to make sure the coffee was ready and the ashtray was on the table, then walked over to the door as Chris, the President’s constant Secret Service companion, swung open the door for his commander-in-chief.

“Mr. President, come in please,” the Advisor said, smiling. “I look forward to your visits. I seldom get a chance to talk about important issues. When you’re here, that’s my only chance.” The two men sat down in their usual seats and the President lit a cigarette. “If you don’t mind, Mr. President, I’d like to ask you why you come to see me.”

The President smiled and took a drag. “Sometimes I ask myself the same question.” He blew out a puff of smoke before answering. “I come down here because among all the people I meet with, you’re the only one who tells me exactly what you believe. You have no political or personal agenda and frankly you are much smarter than the others and you never leak information that either helps or hurts me. So the time I spend with you is like playing political chess. You give me a safe opportunity to sharpen my messaging skills. Now please, continue with your stream of criticism. I’m ready.” The President sat back in his chair, a sly grin on his face, and took another drag from his cigarette.

“Well, you must be feeling good. You’ve had a number of victories recently. So let me begin with you successful negotiations with Iran. Your citizens are nearly all bewildered. Some of the political lemmings take the sound bites and pass them on. I found it interesting that the conservative wing of America is comfortable debating substance while the further left you go, the less willing people are to debate issues. Instead, they attack the messengers and not the message they carry. So your Congressional power base, with a few exceptions, will not argue with the tenets of the Iranian agreement. They will focus on attacking the debaters. You have brilliantly given them the ideal message: ‘There was no other option. Either this agreement or war.’ As simplistic as that defense is, it is working and will continue to work. You know, as the intellectual you can be, that there were and are scores of different approaches. By going to the United Nations with the lifting of sanctions on nuclear activity as well as lifting embargoes on conventional weapons, you have made Congress irrelevant. Your progressive message in the election period can now paint the Republicans as being anxious to go to war with Iran rather than giving diplomacy a chance.

“Here again the left will be attacking the anti-Iran agreement people and not debating the agreement issues. Therefore you have already used the issue and now have a winning strategy.”

The President smiled, ground out his cigarette and said, ” You are too smart. I’m thankful you’re buried in this underground chamber with your unique political insights. I don’t mind this. I’ll give you more time. It’s like being in a safe time warp.”

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

The author’s latest Jack Brandon novel, ISIS Quiet Justice, is available at your local book store and in ebook format from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Follow the author on Twitter at @factsfictions80.

1 Comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Iran, Obama, political solutions, Progressives

by Barry Kelly | July 3, 2015 · 7:38 am

INSIGHTS 216 –ADVISOR/ NOT THE ADVICE THE PRESIDENT WANTED

The Advisor picked up where he was the last time the president came down to his underground chambers. He was surprised the president was back and wanted him to continue with his discussion of the advice he would offer to the person who succeeded him next year. He had to give the man full credit for coming back for more. They were settled at the conference table. The Advisor said, “Should I continue?”

“Yes. You’ve listened to my defense of my policies over the years, I can put up with some more of your ideas, however outdated and inappropriate for the modern era of internationalism and governments who serve to give the people what they want and deserve. It’s time the ‘haves’ paid their fair share. But go on, please; this is your time.”

“When you were elected, you inherited a very bad economic problem largely brought on by the so-called housing bubble. The housing bubble was directly caused by government intervention in the housing financial market in the form of government loan guarantee agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government agencies pushed bad loans into the housing loan business that eventually caused a recession. This was not totally a Democrat Party error. The Republican president lost or misplaced his veto pen. The resulting response was a financial policy that inhibited economic growth. Current federal regulations, the closing of local banks, and taxation levels are preventing the growth of small businesses. Dodd Frank is a terrible bill and needs to be phased out. It is causing local banks to close and leaving no place for small businesses to get loans. The Federal Reserve system has seen its time. It should be in an advisory role, not an executive role.

“America’s educational system is getting worse, not better. The people to blame are those people who have run our educational system for the last several decades. The national government has no business controlling education. They have made a mess out of the system that is in the hands of an entrenched union that no longer puts our children first. Their first priority is the growth and power of the union and the well-being of all teachers regardless of their ability. Let the states and local governments be responsible for educating their citizens and make school choice a reality for all parents.

“Civilian control of the military is a cherished part of our Republic but no president should be permitted to destroy the force that defends us all without a strong national debate. Cutting back our military to fit some anti-colonialist ideology and putting White House staff in control of the details of military operations is dangerous and has failed every administration that has tried it. Civilian control does not mean civilian management of military tactics.

“The conduct of foreign affairs requires a strong national negotiating team, led by a strong, respected president. Today, we don’t have negotiations. We have a system of gradual appeasement. Serious national security issues from the Middle East to Russia to China are being ignored. Foreign nations, including our allies, have no respect for our word. Our Iranian policy is understandable only from the Iranian side. They get everything they want, including Iraq, and all we get are empty promises. Only a strong, involved president working for American interests can deliver foreign policy agreements that provide security to the nation.”

The president stared hard at the Advisor. “Are you going to send me a strong letter as well?”

“Not yet, I haven’t finished.”

“Never mind. Enough! I’m grateful you are kept down here in this hole. You would be a helluva critic if allowed out. Goodnight. I will be back to allow you to finish.”

The above is a fictional account of the writing of a legendary but fictional advisor.

“ISIS: Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel by Barry Kelly dealing with ISIS in America, is now available nationwide from your local book store. This is the fifth novel in the “Justice”series. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80.