Category Archives: Capitalism

by Barry Kelly | April 1, 2015 · 7:16 am

INSIGHTS 196 — CONSISTENTLY DESTRUCTIVE

If it is consistency you value in a president, Obama is your man. He hasn’t changed his goals or his policies to reach those goals since he was elected twice by an electorate desperately wanting change.

We got change. Only, it was change the left-wing progressives wanted, a very vocal group. A very high percentage of journalists, editors, and publishers welcome Obama’s transformation of America. When you add the Teachers’ Union, university professors, and Hollywood’s entertainers to the power of the press, it is no wonder so many Americans wonder what is happening. What is actually happening is so far outside the American experience that those of us who try to explain the goals of radical progressivism seem like right-wing conspiracy nuts.

How is it possible that a president who handily won two national elections is dedicated to destroying the America he took an oath to protect? By any of my standards, the nation is weaker economically and militarily and more divided than it was before anyone ever heard of Barack Obama. None of the problems that need fixing have been addressed by President Obama. They are not part of his agenda. He uses the issues of immigration, health care, welfare reform, taxation, military strategy, education, racism, jobs, energy development, and international affairs to destroy domestic or foreign opposition, increase government control of all aspects of our economy and way of life. He doesn’t seek to problem-solve. He only wants to move forward with the development of socialism in America under the control of a progressive elite.

There is no other way to explain his actions. It is clear to me that he has corrupted the civil service of all government agencies to support his socialist agenda. Energy is a perfect example. He has done and is doing everything he can to hamper the development of natural gas and oil production in the United States. He mouths the words of national self-sufficiency in energy but uses the EPA and other agencies to block and delay efforts by the private sector (capitalism) to produce and export energy.

The Keystone Pipeline gave him a chance to create jobs, improve national self-sufficiency in energy, help our Canadian neighbors, reduce China’s control and stockpiling of energy, and improve the safety of transporting oil by ships, trains, and trucks. Even most radical environmentalists admit pipelines are safer than ships, trains, or trucks in the transportation of oil. The truth, I believe, is that our president does not want America to be energy self-sufficient. He wants to weaken our economy and our military by reducing our forces to pre-WWII levels and forcing us to rely on the United Nations to establish a new world order. You need to look no further than look at the president’s Iranian policy.

He has no intentions of bringing Congress into the agreement he is begging Iran to sign. President Obama will ignore the Senate’s Constitutional right to ratify an Iranian nuclear agreement. Instead, he will display his one-world ideology by taking any agreement to the UN. By the way, what the president is calling an agreement is, in fact, a treaty that must be ratified by the Senate. Whatever is good for the pre-Obama America, either domestically or internationally, he will remain consistent in his drive to move the country toward socialism and the traditional one-party rule. There will be no problem solving. But he will continue to befuddle Republican leaders. That is also a consistent part of his imperial presidency.

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 $3.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “ISIS: Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out in early April.

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

Tagged as America, energy, Iran, Obama, pipeline, politics, socialism, United Nations

by Barry Kelly | March 2, 2015 · 7:57 am

INSIGHTS 192 — The facts. Nothing but the facts.

Is America a divided nation? I think so. But it is not divided primarily over race, ethnicity, religion, or class. I believe the division we see today is over ideas. Political goals and objectives are what has always separated the liberals from the conservatives. Ideas are difficult to discuss in the abstract. Maybe if we agreed on a common set of facts, we could begin building bridges across the American divide. If we cannot agree on the facts there is not much of a foundation for bridge building. I’m speaking of hard facts and not the way these facts are interpreted. Interpretation falls into the arena of good debate and discussion.

I hope the simpler I present my list of facts, the easier it will be to get to the first level of agreement. Okay, let’s go!

America today is facing several very serious foreign threats to world peace:

Russia’s expansionism
Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons
radical Islam’s hot war to establish a Caliphate through the employment of terrorism and religious cleansing
North Korea, an intemperate and unpredictable developer of nuclear weapons
China’s expansionary world view and a growing hostility between the haves and have-nots of the world’s population

All these issues need serious and immediate attention by our leaders.

Domestically, we have several areas of critical importance to our economy, unemployment and under employment, the continuance of government founded on our Constitution, the rule of law, and the separation of powers doctrine. The economy needs an assured source of energy to compete in world commerce. We now have that possibility for the first time in decades. Our production of natural gas and oil are very close to making us energy self-sufficient. Fossil fuel is the only viable source of energy to fill our growing economic needs within the next two or three decades. On the job front we need to bring back oversees jobs and rapidly grow the economy. Our government needs a president who puts the needs of America over his or her personal visions of what would be or could be a more perfect world.

Two economic philosophies have built this nation: capitalism and the free-market system. Are they perfect? No. Do they need some regulation? Yes! The nation also needs a Congress and a president that recognize their respective Constitutional roles. Presidents are not kings and neither congressional house has presidential powers. They both need to stay within the America rule and practice of law.

National security first requires an ability to recognize what is required to protect our land and people and then to create and nurture those required elements. If we neglect our Armed Forces, we neglect America. Surely our short history has shown a strong military force is needed to assure our national survival. Peace has come through the military strength of democratic nations to balance and, if necessary, overwhelm the forces of totalitarian nations. Peace comes from the recognized power of democratic nations to back up their diplomatic efforts toward peaceful settlements. Confusion of national goals, a failure of leadership and will, and the neglect of military strength emboldens our enemies and discourages our allies.

Internally, corruption in government, a lack of transparency on the part of the party in power, and the deliberate falsification of information for political objectives will over a short time, destroy the faith the people have in the government of either party.

Can we all move toward the center and agree on a common set of facts?

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. “ISIS,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out in March.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Capitalism, class warfare, Conservative views, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, ISIS, oil, political solutions, Russia

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.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Capitalism, class warfare, Conservative views, political solutions, Politics, Progressives, totalitarianism

Tagged as class warfare, Conservatives, Constitution, core beliefs, President Obama, Republicans

by Barry Kelly | October 15, 2014 · 7:30 am

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.

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Filed under Capitalism, centralization, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as core beliefs, government, health care, liberals, President Obama, Progressives

by Barry Kelly | August 7, 2014 · 7:35 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 137

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

The real result of all far-left ideologies, be they communism, socialism, or Obama’s progressivism, is their impact on the choices left to other groups, organizations, and individuals. Far-left ideologies all have the goal of establishing a one-party system of government to manage the affairs of business, education, health, industry, justice, the military, and individuals. The progressive government is controlled by a small group of the progressive elite. The driving force is that the elite progressives “know what is better for everyone.” They are not evil. They just believe that the only way to establish their version of heaven on earth is to take control of all aspects of society. This is where they get their willingness to constantly use any means to accomplish the end: “a much better and fairer life for all.”

The very essence of progressivism is to control choice because they believe it is chaos when people are free to chose their life’s occupation, their education, reading material, TV programs, news, religion, ways of raising children, including the choice to have children or not, health care, and the people who govern them. The current struggle in America between conservatives and liberals (the far-left liberals are progressives who now control the Democratic Party) is not over some obscure political difference. It is over who makes life’s choices, you or a progressive elite.

Progressives and communists hate what capitalism and the free market stand for. They do not believe the forces of the free market are real and think greed is the only driving force of capitalism. Progressives will not believe the infinite number of choices made by a free people in a free competitive economy can result in anything but chaos. Instead, a small group of progressives can make better economic decisions that will produce a vastly more efficient economy and much fairer distribution of wealth.

The promise of freedom is the existence of choices. Without individual choices there is no freedom. Those of us who have lived seven or eight decades have seen, sometimes up close and personal, societies where the basic choices Americans exercise every day were unheard of or only imagined. The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, Vietnam, and some South American nations have tried various far-left ideologies. In every one of them personal or individual choices vanished.

The last remaining choice is to fight the system. Not many take that choice. All isms can be measured by the choices made by an elite and those made by the people. North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, probably the best political organizer of the 20th century, had North Vietnamese people organized into to a cascading staircase of political, economic, and social organizations. Everyone belonged to a peer organization with each peer group sending a delegate to the next higher group. There was no real individual choice.

All of the socialist, communist, or progressive one party elites are more or less the same. The more mature the system becomes the more extensive its choice making. Let’s look at a few of those. Take education. The elites decide what schools and courses will be available, who will be selected to go to what school, and what each will study. The same elites will decide what doctor, what hospital, what treatment is authorized, where people can live, what size of apartment, what will be grown on the farms, what industries will be allowed, and what each will produce in both quality and quantity. Some even decide how many children a couple can have. Internal travel and trips to other countries is strictly controlled.

When you lose your individual freedom, you lose the right to make most of life’s choices. The elites will look after you. When you think about something conceptual like freedom, think instead about the right of making choices being taken from you and your family. Don’t be taken in by the words. They don’t mean anything. Remember, “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” Without choice all hopes are narrowed.

Don’t be uniformed. READ “INSIGHTS : Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” Now in paperback for $9.95 and kindle free at Amazon. Help spread the message.