Category Archives: Eight Decades of Insights

by | November 1, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-84 THE ADVISOR

THREE MORE YEARS?

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The Advisor had been pacing up and down his office for nearly an hour. He was truly troubled. He hadn’t seen the President for two weeks. Even worse, if the President did come down to see him, he had nothing to say to him. He sighed heavily and sat down to drink some coffee and collect his thoughts.

The problem between us is deeply rooted in the President’s ideology and a long series of political successes by following the wishes of the far left. Only now, the President has the power. He is the President of what some still think is the most powerful nation in world history. Any historian can tell you that winning power and exercising power are two very different processes. In the struggle to seize power, you are not expected to solve the kinds of problems all presidents face. Words of inspiration and hope, and promising voters a better world are the tools of the power seeker. It doesn’t matter much if the words are true or not because the end justifies the means. To someone trying to win power, every action is good as long as the end is the seizure of power from your opponents.

The Advisor pulled out his journal and started to write:

To govern in a democracy or a republic, you must please the people by delivering security, economic progress,  social services, and national pride. In a totalitarian government, force and fear are required tools of governing. In democracies, truth is important. In dictatorships, truth doesn’t matter. Mass murder and the abolishment of freedom is the usual formula for controlling the opposition. Our current President doesn’t seem to realize he is now the man-in-charge. He must now solve issues, not just use them to weaken the opposition. Americans want to trust the word of the President. President Obama is still in campaign mode during which he used untruths successfully to defeat political opponents. The constant blaming of others is not presidential. Holding back information that makes the Administration look bad is not presidential. I’m afraid people have lost faith in his word. Once that happens it is nearly impossible to reverse.

How can I advise a President whom the people no longer trust? What should I do for the next three years of his term? The nation is in some peril and President Obama is playing to the tune of “I didn’t know,” and “I will get to the bottom of this.” That might be right because I believe he has reached the bottom. He has used up the blaming of others. He needs to spend more time looking in the mirror. I doubt even his mirror image can trust his word.

All I can do is record my thoughts in the Journal for my successors to read. Truly, I would like to help him but when a President loses the trust of the people, his term is up. I have no idea what he or the nation should do for the next three years. Except for the progressive lemmings in the Senate and the media, there would be calls for impeachment on the grounds that he has committed at least five Watergates. Ben Ghazi and the IRS scandals being the worst. Only he is already being punished — by the sentence of three years of late-night jokes.

The Advisor put down his pen. He took another sip of coffee and reread what he had just written. It hurt him to read “I have no idea what he or the nation should do for the next three years.” He meant it, and it meant trouble for the U.S.

This blog is written by the author of the Jack Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of government service, including two years serving Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

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.

 

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by | October 21, 2013 · 7:40 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-80

MORE OF THE SAME

Seal of the United States Department of State.

Seal of the United States Department of State. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s bad now. Can it get worse? It sure can. Just elect another Progressive Socialist Democrat to the White House. We had our experiment with their kind of change. It isn’t good. Let’s elect a real moderate Democrat or a true Conservative in 2016. And let’s pay attention to the primary process. No more nominating candidates without a resume or with an incredibly incompetent record. Remember, having won elections in the past is does not qualify anyone to stand for the presidency. Winning elections means you can raise money and are good at messaging, not much else.

I wonder how a candidate such as our disgraced former Secretary of State can even think about running for president. Benghazi and the cover up should be enough to disqualify anyone with a sense of honor and pride. Standing with the families of the murdered Americans at Ben Ghazi during the arrival of their remains at Andrews Air Force Base, our Secretary of State was recorded telling them a distasteful video was the cause and the maker of the video would be punished. Days before the dead heroes arrived at Andrews, the President, his Secretary of State and many other key officials knew it was an attack by al Qaeda affiliated terrorists who were responsible. That single incident is the most shameful thing I have ever witnessed in my years of serving in and following the U.S. Government. As shameful was the non- action of the timid Defense people who left Americans to die without even trying to rescue them. In the past, officials like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would resign rather than follow the political directions of the amateurs in the White House that resulted in leaving Americans behind without trying to save them. The morale of active duty soldiers and veterans can’t stand more tentative political maneuvers on the part of their leaders. It is an American tradition that we don’t leave people behind.

We  also must not forget the The Secretary of State’s failed reset with Russia, the support for Assad in Syria as a reformer, and the abandoning of the Eastern European nations who were willing to let us establish a much-needed ballistic missile radar system to protect against Iranian missiles. How can the Democratic Party nominate anyone with such a shameful resume? Only if they continue to be under the control of the Progressives. We need to get back to a two-party system where one of them is not the Progressive Party in disguise.

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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

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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.

2 Comments

Filed under Alinsky, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions, Progressives, totalitarianism