Category Archives: political solutions

by | October 11, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-81 THE ADVISOR

CITIZEN BEWARE

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One thing you could say for this President is that he knows when he calls, people jump. The Advisor smiled and thought, even me. The office carries real and mystical power. It must be something deep in our human genes from thousands of years of picking leaders by widely varying methods. Once a man is the supreme leader he or she exudes an aura of power. I know who this man is. I know his shortcomings and, still, when he sends word he is coming down, I jump. I even tidy up the meeting room. Glad he never wanted to see my living quarters. Me, one in a long unbroken line of Advisors, am still a citizen and he is my chief.

It was mid-afternoon when the President placed his palm on the old iron door with the fading EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS copper plaque dating back to colonial days. President Obama was only an hour late. No problem; that was his prerogative. He made no apology, just took his seat in the small conversational grouping of furniture and waited until the Advisor poured coffee. The President was addicted to good coffee and cigarettes. The advisor had quit smoking fifty years ago and disliked breathing in second-hand smoke but it was not that often and the man needed to be able to relax. After taking his first drag, President Obama said, “I just had to get away. My staff is trying to kill me by constantly presenting problems they should solve themselves. Take this closing of the Government thing. Hell, I’d like to close the White House, not to tours, but to the idiots who work there.”

The President paused to take another drag and a sip of coffee.

“Yes, I wanted to make the Republicans look bad by causing the citizens some pain and reasons to blame the House Tea Party faction, but to delay paying death benefits to dead soldiers is too stupid to even think about. And then to close an open air memorial to WWII veterans is even worse. Yet I can’t fire anyone because when push comes to shove they will say, ‘I was only carrying out what the President wanted.’ No way. I’m just tired of putting out fires. The bureaucracy is an awesome thing. A huge anthill with all the ants striving to please their queen without a second of thought. They do not even do what is right for the people or the nation. Never enters their heads. They are only guided by the need to protect their little kingdoms. They know they will be here in their little fiefdoms long after I’m gone. Jumping up and down in the Oval Office chanting their age old mantra, ‘Look at me.’

“I swear when I achieve my goal of a one party system overseeing fairness, income distribution and equality for all, I will break the back of the entrenched bureaucracy.”

“Mr. President, even the liberal media is starting to question your failure to lead in finding the solution to problems. Soon they will stumble on the theory that your interests lie in the continued acquisition of power not in the solution of problems. While you’re not resolving issues, you are increasing the power of the Executive Office. The polls show a remarkable drop in your public ratings. Are you concerned about that?”

“Not in the least. I will come out of this so-called budget crisis with what I want. A further weakening of the opposition and the acquisition of more power in the Executive. The Progressives may even pick up more legislative seats in the 2014 elections. If that happens I will be unstoppable.” The President ground out his cigarette with gratification, ignoring the Advisor’s wide eyes. “Thank you for listening to me bitch and moan. It’s good to have a place where I can be myself.” The President smiled and said, “Stick around. I may need another session soon.” The President walked swiftly to the door and left.

The Advisor opened his current journal and began to write. He thought as he was recording, No one will ever believe this. I’m not even sure I can.

This fictional account of a meeting that should happen but doesn’t is by the author of the Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

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by | October 9, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-79 THE ADVISOR

THE ISSUE IS THE ISSUE 

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It was time for the sun to come up. The Advisor had to turn on his big-screen TV to see it. Every day the world is renewed with this life-giving force. If only everyone could see the sunrise as another chance to do good things. Maybe spending so much time underground has made me more sensitive to the eternal promise of the light pushing away the dark. I’m worried about my mission to advise the President. He seems to have a hard core of anger and missionary zeal to mold America into a nation of equality, fairness, and centralized control. I don’t think he recognizes that universal fairness and equality are good, if unattainable goals, that are possible only with the excesses of centralized control.

The conflicts he has with his political opposition are rooted in the centralized control issue that cannot tolerate individual freedom or the compromises required to govern this nation. He doesn’t see it like that. To him individual freedom where each person strives to do the best they can destroys the building of socialism by an elite group. His dream is to bring about the birth of unqualified equality, not only to America but to the entire world. He believes individual freedom and nationalism must be sacrificed in the journey to a better world.

The President’s devotion to socialism and the teaching of Saul Alinsky that the issue is never the issue prevent him from devoting his talent to the solving of important national and international issues. President Obama can only see issues as opportunities to be used to destroy opposition. The destruction of the opposition clears the way for the building of an equal opportunity society where wealth is distributed by a centralized government. Just like Mr. Alinsky taught in his “Rules for Radicals.” Mr. Alinsky is a brilliant revolutionary but he was never president. His teaching may have guided Mr. Obama to the presidency but it surely does not help him to govern where issues are real. If you don’t solve them, you are held accountable. Cute messaging and flip flopping on nearly every issue, such as the raising of the debt, are hurting the president’s ability to govern. Recall his vote against raising the debt as being unpatriotic during President Bush’s tenure. Inconsistency and the loss of respect for your word damages any leader. This president just doesn’t seem to understand that lesson of history.

I believe he really doesn’t care about how the Affordable Care Act affects the people as long as it puts seven percent of the economy under government control. Nor does he worry about the number of people out of work, or the insecure national borders, foreign affairs, or the increasing cost of welfare. All these issues bring more people under the care of the central government. To maintain the momentum of people coming under government care he must keep spending beyond the nation’s income. An economic crisis will enable him to nationalize more of the economy and destroy the flow of money to the opposition for a competing  political agenda.

His plan won’t work in the long run and it will cause great damage to the nation and the American safe harbor for individual freedom which is the bedrock of a free people. I’m the Advisor and I don’t know what to do. I’ll give him the best advice I can but I must also protect the nation. Maybe he will see a better path.

By the author of the Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

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by | October 2, 2013 · 11:58 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-78 THE ADVISOR

BEWARE OF THE MESSAGE

greendoor

The Advisor was pacing in his office. It was day two of the government shutdown and the President had just appeared on TV to blame it on the Republicans. The Advisor could see right through him and surrendered himself to the journals.

He wrote:  I’ve studied politics and the struggle for power all my adult life. The essence of all efforts to gain power is the developing and dissemination of “the” message. Truth is usually not necessary. The believers don’t need the truth. No great takeover of power ever involved the truth. Russia, China, Cuba, Eastern Europe, Germany, and various third-world countries are good examples. But the current administration of the Progressive Democrats is a world-class messaging machine.

For example, the blame game of who is responsible for shutting down the government. All the President had to do was agree to applying Obamacare to the Congress and to delay the application of the law to individuals, in the same way the President gave a year’s delay to big business without any consultation with the Congress, in itself an unlawful and unconstitutional act. He made 16 other changes in the law also without consulting the legislative branch. Yet the message is that Republicans wanted the government shutdown. That’s not the truth. In the struggle for power, truth is a bystander. Why didn’t he compromise? There was plenty of political space for him.

The reason he didn’t is ugly. The President’s actions can only be understood if you understand he must use every issue to destroy the opposition. The goal is a one-party government. He cannot escape Alinsky’s teaching that the issue is never the issue. Ultimate power for a Progressive elite is the end game. The transformation of America cannot be accomplished as long as there is even a bewildered opposition that still doesn’t understand the rules have changed. Only a very few of the Republican Party’s elite talking heads are learning the new rules, but very slowly. 

Obama’s war is here, in the homeland. Iran, Russia, South America, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa are of no interest to him, unless he can shape the issue to diminish the opposition party. He is willing to sacrifice our former international position of respect, won at the cost of much blood and treasure if he can improve his domestic power position. He doesn’t want to be a world power. He just wants to be an equal part of a one-world order governed by a United Nations on steroids. A world of talk, legal maneuvering, and equality. Where wealth must be redistributed to achieve the equality of nations. Anything to achieve this goal is good: climate control, cap and trade, energy resources controlled by an international group. Limitations on the size and quality of troops and weapons. The keeper of the new world order dictates when, where, and what force is needed to maintain equality.  It is Utopia by the same, old, tired wishes for a fairy-tale land that has failed everywhere it has been tried, now lives anew in the minds of the new Progressive elite. While dreamers may think the end is a beautiful creation, the process is ugly and never ending. Beware of the message. Search for the truth for only it will make you free.

The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

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by | September 30, 2013 · 8:23 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-77 THE ADVISOR

OBAMA’S WAY

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The Advisor was shaken. It was after 2:00 AM and the Secret Service just called to say the Boss was on his way down. He turned the coffee pot on and got himself together. He could go to sleep most nights rather quickly but, after 82 years it took a while to wake up and function. Sometimes he wished for a schedule. It would never happen. The Journals told the story. Presidents seek advice where and whenever they like. That’s partially why the institution of the Advisors had lasted so long.

I think I must be the least effective of all the Advisors, he thought as he found two coffee mugs. The President listens but never takes my advice. I have no agenda. Protecting this bastion of liberty from all attackers is my agenda. Now for the first time an Advisor knows that the President has his own unique agenda that requires, in his words, “The transformation of America.” After five years the ugly shape of the transformation is becoming visible. That transformation if successful will mean the end of individual liberty in the world. Can I and should I help him to accomplish this goal?

The advisor paused. I have to. It’s my mission. I took the oath of office willingly and he was elected twice by the people. The question is if the people elect a man to be their leader, is that enough? I would argue that freedom can be lost through the tyranny of the majority. We fought for the right to establish a free Republic of the people, for the people, and by the people. We have now or soon will have a majority of voters who seem to favor a Democracy over a Republic.  These are very different concepts. The President’s core supporters are the people who believe in an elite leadership of the masses who will lead the nation toward a managed equality and world government.

The Advisor was pouring coffee when the heavy steel door swung open and the President came in wearing a warm-up suit. He looked trim and healthy but very tired. Rather than his usual civil greeting, he said, “I’m pissed. Everywhere I go people are trying to tell me what to do. Even my own staff. At least down here nothing I say gets discussed the next day by some pompous talking head. I hate them. Especially those of the left. They should know better. This mess with Iran, Syria, and Russia has everyone chasing their tails or trying to step on mine. Damnit, on top of that the right wing radicals in the Congress are fighting ‘The Affordable Care Act and raising the debt limit. Obamacare is the damn law. I like to put them all in the Gitmo place they love so much.”

“Mr. President, how can I serve you?”

“I’m tired of talking. I want to ask you questions and just listen.”

“I’ll answer as if I was burdened with the same issues, which in my way I am. Okay?”

“Yes. My first question is how would you handle Iran’s nuclear weapons program?”

“I would not focus my entire efforts on stopping Iran from becoming a nuclear power. The issue is greater and has more points of danger. Iran’s unshakeable commitment to developing nuclear weapons is driven by their goal to dominate the Middle East in one Muslim Shia state ruled by Iran. Nothing the West can do will change this national goal. The best weapon against Iran is to motivate the Sunnis to actively provide an roadblock to Iran’s aggression. Syria is a pawn in that struggle. Assist the Sunnis in their effort to secure Syria for the Sunni sphere of influence. Hamas, Hezbollah, and a large part of the Jihadist movement would be weakened. Yes,  I know al Qaeda is basically Sunni. But Iran is far more dangerous than the stateless organization of al Qaeda. No effort of yours to diplomatically stop Iran’s messianic drive to acquire nuclear weapons will do anything but give Iran more time to weaponize. Negotiation with them with the goal of exposing their treachery and rallying the Sunnis …in the end a military strike will be necessary. But get the Sunnis actively on your side first.”

“What about the budget issues and The Affordable Care Act?”

“That is an easier problem. You can solve that because you are the problem. Never mind the Alinsky theology about using every issue to diminish the opposition. Alinsky was never president. You are. Some issues must be solved. The American people do not trust a president that cannot solve important problems. You, yourself, have delayed and modified parts of The Affordable Act several times. Because it needed fixing. You stretched and maybe broke the law doing so. But that is another issue. Your problem is, do you want to give Americans better health care or do you want to use control of the health/medical industry as a big step toward socializing America? You can’t have it both ways. Negotiate health care with the Congress, both Houses. There are good things in Obamacare. Keep the good and modify the rest. Your ratings will soar and the budget crisis will disappear. The choice is yours.”

“That’s enough for me. I need to get some sleep. I’m not finished. I’ll work up to listening to more of your analysis. It helps me deal with my Republican enemies.”

The President took a last drag on his cigarette and walked out the door with an almost imperceptible over the shoulder wave to The Advisor.

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place. Too bad.

The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

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by | September 2, 2013 · 2:25 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 73-ADVISOR

SYRIA

Safe in the Shadows

It was after midnight when the Advisor answered his red line phone and heard the codeword indicating the President was on his way. Minutes later, the President opened the steel door off the tunnel between the White House and the Treasury. As soon as he stepped in, he said, “I need a cup of your special coffee and a cigarette.”

“It’s poured and waiting for you. It’s late and you must be tired. Do you want to sit at the table or in my little conversation nook?”

“Lead me to the softest chair. I am beat. This Syrian thing has gotten out of control. All my advisors have spoken with their usual, on the one hand or the other comments they think are helpful advice. I decided to come and see you. I seldom like what you tell me but you make me think and clear up the fog of political chatter.”

“Thank you, Mr. President. You by now know that I like to start from the beginning. The Syrian problem was out of control during your first term with people from your Cabinet and key Progressive congressional figures rushing out to Syria and coming back with stories like the message Secretary Clinton brought back about President Assad being a reformer your administration could work with. As you understand, Mrs. Clinton is out of her element in the demanding nature of international diplomacy. She represented you and left you with a mess. A mess that now has little chance of turning out well for the nation and your presidency.”

“I understand and agree with you, but the decision I have to make is simply whether I should authorize a limited strike against Assad and under what conditions.”

“With all respect, Mr. President that is not the decision confronting you. It is much deeper and more complicated. The time when limited support to the opposition would have made a difference was at least two years ago. That window is now closed. Don’t think Syria. Think Iran and Russia. Syria is a weak arm of Iranian power in the Middle East. Syria’s role for Iran is primarily as a conduit for supplies to Hezbollah. Without that safe passageway for Iranian aid to Hezbollah, the ability of Hezbollah to control Lebanon and threaten Israel would vanish. On the Russian side, their primary interest is in securing a warm water port for their fleet. Ostensibly they now have one in Syria that is even now supporting a Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean. For that reason Russia will not allow you to get UN support for any military action in Syria.”

“The Russians must know I’m not going to invade Syria. I’m only planning on a limited strike.”

“Again with respect, Mr. President, there is no such thing as a limited strike. You can order a limited strike, but your opponents, understanding the lack of enthusiasm for another war in the Arab world resulting in a flood of body bags and an outflow of our treasure, can respond in a way to expand the conflict. Then you will feel a response is necessary. For example, if one or two of our ships are attacked and sunk, you will have to respond in self-defense. This will not be a Ben Ghazi where you can do nothing. Your choices are limited. You can do nothing. You can do a limited cruise missile strike and hope for the best or you can destroy Assad’s air power and punish Syria for using chemical weapons and give the rebels a much better chance to overthrow Assad. Whatever you decide, the power position of the United States in the Middle East has been seriously eroded.

“There is one other option. Take the problem to the Congress and blame them for whatever happens. They can be made to be at fault, no matter what they decide to do. This is an  Alinsky-ite dream. The issue is never the issue. Use all issues to destroy the obstacles preventing you from seizing total power. Your former Secretary of State who wants to replace you will be pleased. Your decision can damage your influence in the Progressive Party. If Secretary Kerry had any thoughts of seceding you as President, you have destroyed that possibility for him. He took the bait and now looks like the man who turned on his country in the Vietnam War.”

“It amazes me that you can sit down here in a modern cave and have so many insights. You even understand  my anti-colonial bias. I do not like to use American military power to restore western power in the Middle East. I can’t bring myself to attack Syria with only the French, with their legacy of subjugating Syria in the Colonial period, as an ally. What would you do in my place?”

“That is too hypothetical even for me. When in doubt, doing nothing is often the best choice. Remember the sarin gas killed approximately a thousand people in a terrible agony that was captured by the cameras. Assad’s forces killed a hundred times that many prior to the chemical attack. My last comment is where did Assad get that quantity of chemical weapons? He certainly didn’t produce them in Syria. Do you think a large part of them came from Iraq? The country that had no weapons of mass destruction even though they used chemical weapons against the Kurds and Shias. Mr. President, my best advice is to surround yourself with people who live in the real world, not in some virtual world they can control with propaganda and an endless mantra of untruths chanted in unison to the American people.”

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of Government service,

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful. Find and connect with the author on Goodreads.

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