Category Archives: Politics

by Barry Kelly | July 14, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 128

OBAMA AND THE MILITARY

How did we get to the point where soldiers are being given termination of employment notice while in combat zones fighting for our safety and freedom? This is a new low for any president, his secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

After both world wars, America cut back on the troop level and budget of the armed forces. Then the respective presidents and the citizens believed wars were finally over and we could rely first on the League of Nations and later, the United Nations though they are both international organizations with more promise than results.

We should know better now.

The need for current troop levels and budget increases is real. Islam radicalism is real, as is their hatred for all things western and especially the United States. The Cold War is not over. It never was. Russia and China present real threats to the economic and military power of the United States. Diplomacy, no matter the narrow view of the liberal progressives now in power, cannot be effective without real military and economic power. This is political science 101, the most basic of all principles of the exercise of power.

There is a pervasive myth that is part of the code of the liberal left or progressive movement. Social welfare programs cannot be funded adequately if the resources allocated to the military cannot be drastically reduced. They would rather have an ineffective national defense than cap or limit social welfare spending. The myth is easily perpetrated among a social political group that sees no need for the military and its exercise of violent power. The Vietnam War did not create this liberal group who devoutly believe if they are good and just, all other nations will also be good and just. This belief has been here as long or longer than recorded history. The actions of the left toward our warriors returning from Vietnam will never be erased. This is the same political group that justifies President Obama’s Benghazi actions and the subsequent cover-up.

We all should be embarrassed at the actions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense. They supported the president in the Benghazi tragedy and the cover-up, knowing it was wrong. In a democracy, a Constitution that designates the president as the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t excuse any military officer or civilian officer for participating in a cover-up where Americans died without any attempt to rescue them. The Joint Chiefs do not have to act like mummies when they see the president’s secretary of defense destroying the best military force the world has ever known. They have a duty to resist and resign if necessary. Terminating the service of active duty military, officers, and troops while in a combat zone is inexcusable. There is no need for this. Funds can be found without damaging any sacred social programs. While the current debt is too high, the needs of the military is not the driving force of the national debt.

If the troops who are being fired for socialist reasons had jobs to go to, at least cutting the military force drastically wouldn’t be a humanitarian disaster. Thanks to the socialist need to transform American into a European socialist economy, there are no jobs for them to go to. Not only does this presidential action weaken America’s defense, it puts hundreds of thousands of able-bodied men and women into the ranks of the unemployed and hurts the morale of those who didn’t get cut. Chief of the Joint Staff, General Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel, where is your sense of honor? It is time for you both to resign.

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.

2 Comments

by Barry Kelly | June 29, 2014 · 10:44 am

by Barry Kelly | June 23, 2014 · 11:17 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 121

THE CONSTANT PRESIDENT

Once you break the code, President Obama is the most transparent president in my lifetime of presidents, starting with FDR. When analyzing what our president will do in any situation, I select the opposite of what I’m sure President Reagan would have done. President Reagan’s course of action was to deal with the problem so that America was protected and moving forward at all times. When there is a crisis, President Obama dithers and then does nothing to deal with the issue.

That doesn’t mean he does nothing. He uses every issue to push the ‘transformation’ agenda forward. Remember his ideological mentor, Saul Alinsky, the radical leftist revolutionary writer and community organization in Chicago before Obama wrote brilliantly that the issue is never the issue. Any side of any issue is used to destroy the opposition and seize power by any means.

Most of our Republican leaders just can’t understand a president that doesn’t do his best to solve problems. Barack Obama is not just a ‘worse’ Jimmy Carter. His goals include diminishing America’s power on the world scene. For example, I don’t believe President Obama is concerned about the rapid development of a Sunni Muslim empire including Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. The power of America will not be used to stop the spread of ISIS. There is really nothing to stop their invasion from taking Baghdad. I’m not sure I would want American troops in combat again under our current commander-in-chief.

Think I’m being too hard on President Obama/ Once you understand his motivation, his tracks are easy to follow. He is a very different type of American politician. We have not seen anyone like President Obama in American political life. My new nonfiction book was written so every American could understand the progressive transformation and defeat it in the polling booth. There may not be many more chances to derail the rush toward a socialist nation. This book, INSIGHTS The Transformation of America, is a code breaker for understanding your president and defeating progressives. I guarantee that after reading this book you will clearly see transformation for what it is. In the progressive world there is no room for conservatives, libertarians, moderate Democrats or independents. Look for these groups in the dustbin of history if the transformation process continues under Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

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

Tagged as Alinsky, BarackObama, ISIS, Islam, president reagan, Progressive, socialism

by Barry Kelly | June 17, 2014 · 7:49 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 120

IT’S TRANSFORMATION, DUMMY

If you watch the news long enough, you will see things that just make your head hurt. I remember Senator McCain pleading for the president to get a new national security staff because his current one was not serving the president well.

Where has the senator been?

Obama is not and never will be a fixer of issues. His only goal is transformation. After the progressives become the only political party and the opposition is gone, then, maybe, he will take on some issues. Until then, it is the issue is never the issue. Please, Senator McCain, write that down and study it.

The president has no interest in getting into a war among Muslims. His base wouldn’t stand for it. His interest is ending American interference with the sovereignty of other nations. He is after a weaker America that takes its proper role in the international order. I think without American boots on the ground and control of the air over Iraq and Syria, the entire area will separate into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish areas. Even then the Kurds will need support from us to hold off the ISIS.

The ISIS is a primarily Sunni organization and its doubtful if President Obama would destroy a Sunni-backed and financed organization. The blood and treasure we poured into Iraq, the remarkable defeat of Saddam Hussein’s vaunted military, the near destruction of al-Qaeda, and the birth of a struggling democracy faded away when for deep seated ideological reasons, Obama did not want a residual force agreement to allow American troops to remain in Iraq. A strong, tough negotiating stance on our part would have crafted an agreement allowing some strategically placed bases to remain in Iraq. That process is part of winning. With U.S. bases in Iraq, the current disaster in Iraq and the chaos in Syria would either have not occurred or would have been solvable. But that is not the Obama way.

Our president has his eye only on transformation and he has a personal flaw of believing the world is as he sees it. If he wants foreign policy change, he resorts to words and pretends his words are all that is needed. His lines are not straight and red. They are swirls and very pale. Not one of our former allies or enemies trusts our words or believes in our resolve. A new national security team would make no difference. It is not about issues and under Obama it never will be.

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS — 119

HEY GOP, LISTEN UP (AGAIN)

(In light of Eric Cantor losing his seat in the primaries this week, I thought it prudent to republish this former blog. It’s important.)

Conservatives are tired of Republicans who turn to big government and unlimited spending to solve the nation’s problems. The Republican politicians who are too frightened to stand up for their principles and instead play the “go along to get along” game got their share of criticism. The message I hear from the conservative people is simple: control spending, limit the size and scope of government to what is necessary, maintain the strength of our armed forces, regain the lost respect for American power on the international front, and most of all protect our Constitutional rights.

A clear message. But I doubt the Republican establishment hears the message and those who hear it don’t understand it. The people who make this country work and finance the government are fed up. They aren’t demanding much, just the chance to have and keep a job, raise their kids in a safe environment, send them to a school that gives them the opportunity to get a good education, be able to find and pay for good medical care, live in a nation that honors and takes care of its veterans, have leaders they respect to maintain American excellence and military power, and, where possible, encourage the growth of individual freedom everywhere. That’s what they want and expect to get. Save “change America and transformation” for the make-believe world where it comes from.

There is strong support for term limits for Congress that would encourage citizen politicians to serve their nation for four terms in the House and two terms in the Senate. Our professional politicians get so wrapped up in the quest to get elected and stay elected, they lose sight of why they are there. They are not there to serve themselves, but to serve the people who sent them to Washington or their state capitals. There are a few who are trying to save the nation from an alien transformation but they are often criticized and ridiculed by their own party leaders who are truly professionals whose main task is to get elected for yet another term.

These same Republican leaders think that the transformation of America will fall of its own weight and are taking a terrible chance with our way of life. Instead of keeping their powder dry they need to get in the fray, protect their Constitutional right to make laws, and give the nation another vision of the shining city on a hilltop. Tell us your plans for health care, military force levels, foreign policy, tax reform, protection of social security, employment growth, and the reduction of the size and scope of a government that has outgrown its required role.

We don’t need or want class warfare, redistribution of wealth or any of the other parts of progressivism/socialism. We just need a common sense government that takes care of those who are too young, or too old, or too sick to work. We can work together. Government isn’t hard. Just listen to the people. Their voices can be heard.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels, a retired CIA agent and former adviser to President Reagan. You are encouraged to share this blog and leave comments.