Category Archives: Politics

by Barry Kelly | August 26, 2013 · 8:38 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 71 THE ADVISOR

REPUBLIC OR DEMOCRACY

It was cold in the Advisor’s underground office. He thought, I shouldn’t complain. The long line of advisors before me lived under more Spartan conditions.

The Advisor journals from during and before the Civil War were full of the trivia of each Advisor coping with circumstances of a harsh existence. He sometimes regretted that an Advisor two decades ago had blocked up the fireplace because some Advisor under stress in a crisis might begin destroying the sacred journals by throwing them in the fireplace. (Saving the journals when the British burned Washington is quite a story.)

One thing was sure. The Advisor journals told a different history of Presidents’ past than the words recorded in the media or popular books. No historian could reconcile the two. His own journals recorded a different history of President’s Obama’s reign than any history book selected by the Teacher’s Union or a University Board ever would. Since President Obama didn’t visit him very often, seldom would be a better description, he had time to put a few hundred pages of his own analysis and insights into the journals.

His pen began moving across a blank page of a new journal.

Presidents never seem to realize they form a continuous chain through time. Their actions or inactions cause ripples across the continuum of time. There have been a few straight lines through the history of the nation that have affected all. The direct election of senators and the President and the process of centralization and the resulting expansion of government through the Commerce Clause accelerated the shift of power from the states to the national government.

President Obama, in his virtual world, thinks he has the power and will to change history by his push to “Transform America.” What is happening started long before his tenure. There are many people with political experience in the Legislature who fail to understand or even be aware of the changes occurring in the nation’s constitutional fabric. Others in Congress, in both parties, support the unfettered march to centralization and all power to the people.

In a Republic, there are checks and balances between the people and the selection of their President. These checks are real. In a Republic, the modern brown shirts like Acorn, under any name, would not have as much influence. The President would be elected by state legislatures via the Electoral College. The senators by the state legislatures. Powers not expressly granted to the federal government would remain with the states. The existence of the Electoral College also protects the small states from being excluded. Who would bother to campaign in the states with small populations without the existence of the Electoral College?

A democracy demands the rule of one person, one vote. There is nothing else. No checks. No balances. The huge difference is that under a republic the needs of the nation come first. In a democracy, the principle of one person, one vote is supreme. When the people begin, as many historical scholars have predicted, to vote benefits for themselves and when the takers can out vote the givers, individual freedom and the nation are in danger. The absolute rule of the majority has an ugly side most people do not want to know about. My fear is that when they finally see it, it will be too late.

The Advisor pulled a book out of the stack he had recently read and said to himself, “I hope the message in this book reaches all Americans before it is too late.” The book is “Liberty Amendments” by Mark Levin.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com. 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 and helpful. Find and connect with the author on Goodreads.

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

DEVIOUS ELECTION PLOT BYPASSES CONSTITUTION — Strategy takes 36 states out of voting decision… (redflagnews.com)
Eight Decades of Insights 67 – the Advisor (factsandfictions.com)
The GOP vs. The Electoral College (politic4me.wordpress.com)
Next 10 Amendments: Eliminate the Electoral College? (constitutioncenter.org)

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Filed under Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions

Tagged as Electoral College, Mark Levin

by Barry Kelly | August 15, 2013 · 7:00 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSTIGHTS 69-ADVISOR

PROBLEMS

The Advisor sat slumped in his chair. For the first time in his life he felt inadequate. His President and the nation needed help. There were so many problems, he wasn’t sure where to start or even if he should start.

Only one thing to do, he thought. Pull out your journal and put down your problems. If you can’t help President Obama solve them, at least you can record them. The record may help another President and his Advisor.

He uncapped his Waterman fountain pen, dipped it in the open inkwell to get the flow started, and wrote in large printed letters at the top of a clean page, PROBLEMS. Wondering what to write next, he just started to write. The words flowed like they were pouring from a deep wound in the Nation’s body.

Obamacare: Here’s an unpopular program that addresses a national need. Nearly everyone believes health care in America is broken and needs fixed. If this President could get over his revolutionary philosophy that pushes him to use every issue to destroy the opposition, it would be easy to pass a bipartisan bill that keeps the good parts of Obamacare and meets the nation’s needs without polarizing the populace. There is a constitutional process that could make this happen. President Obama has to take the lead. He shouldn’t worry about the opposition. They are without leaders and nearly hopeless. Also the President and his Progressive supporters must accept constitutional limits on executive powers and the role of the states. This is not a hard problem. Ignoring it can lead to impeachment talk.

After health care, the sweeping ink trail took up the energy problem.

To start with, energy is too important to be left to spineless politicians and those progressives who believe humans can control climate and its worldwide effects. How can anyone trust politicians or executive department heads such as EPA who refuse to recognize that the world’s climate has and does change, almost constantly in historical terms? The changes are not caused by humans. Humans weren’t even present for many of the changes. How about the time when there were two miles of ice over the place now occupied by Chicago? How many emissions from cars and coal-fired plants did it take to warm up the Earth then? Any objective person of science knows that minute changes in the Earth’s orbit, the energy put out by the sun, and the occasional meteorite might have been instrumental in changes in the world’s temperature.

Again, a bipartisan energy program would not be hard to accomplish if the President could bring himself to cast aside the misguided environmentalists and focus on an intelligent use of fossil fuels while investing modest sums in finding a cleaner form of energy in this century. In the meantime, I must help him recognize that the civilization we have today and may have tomorrow, is because of fossil fuel. Pipelines, drilling on- and off-shore for oil and natural gas and building refineries are good for the nation and cheap energy will bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Massive amounts of tax dollars, poured recklessly into solar cells and wind turbines, will not magically develop even ten percent of our energy requirements.

The Advisor liked to write and ponder problems by candlelight. The flickering light was a constant reminder of how close we are to the past. He felt we are much closer to the time of our founders than we are to the citizens of the next century. Of course, that is what history is all about. Knowing the past will help us get safely into the future. Maybe, that is the message I can get across to the President.

Even I have to get some sleep. I’ll leave National Security, overstepping of executive power, and the economy for another session. If the President comes back, I will have something for him.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com. 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 pass on this blog or parts of it to your contacts and friends. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful.

Marita Noon Commentary: We Win They Lose (fggam.org)
Eight Decades of Insights 67 – the Advisor (factsandfictions.com)

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

Tagged as Climate change, Obama, Obamacare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, United States

by Barry Kelly | July 29, 2013 · 8:26 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 66 ADVISOR

IS IT TOO LATE?

Safe in the Shadows (Photo credit: sigma.)

The Advisor was slowly sipping his coffee as he waited for the President. The head of his secret service detail had called earlier and alerted the Advisor to a Presidential visit later in the night. It was now 10:17 P.M. Never mind the time he told himself if the President wants to come, he will come. Time makes no difference to me. This man is very hard to advise. I believe he has been that way all his life. He has a very inflated opinion of his capabilities. Not the first President to do so. He has never been held to any standard. Not as a child or as a student or even as a Senator. He does and says what he wants. Even contradicting his own recorded statements within days or weeks. I don’t think he even worries about consequences. Presidents have been impeached for less than he has already done.

Nixon left office before facing impeachment charges for a simple breaking and entering of a Democratic office in the Watergate. There was no proof that President Nixon ordered or knew about the break in before it happened. Nevertheless he deserved the threatened impeachment. His closest advisors were involved and the President is responsible for the people he hires. President Obama after saying how serious the charges of the IRS discriminating against Conservative groups were, he is now calling it a phony scandal. Does he think Americans all suffer from short-term memory loss? He also has included the killing of Americans at Ben Ghazi a phony scandal. Same with the intercept of journalists phone calls and email.

Those are all very serious events. Far more deserving of Impeachment proceedings than WaterGate or sex in the Oval office. He is only saved by the weak Republican leadership of the House who act as if they are afraid to face facts. This President is hard to advise. I don’t know what to tell him today. We just don’t agree on a basic set of facts. He is the President and many of my predecessors have faced harder problems. I don’t want my President to be run out of office.

While the Advisor was worrying about what advice to give the President. President Obama arrived outside the steel door leading to the Advisor’s office. He stared at the antique copper plaque on the steel door and studied the faint inscription. EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS. Insights! What the hell am I doing here? The old black man inside is not helping me. Why does he think he’s so damn smart? I’m a Harvard graduate and a former professor. I think he knows what I’m trying to do but doesn’t let on. My legacy is not going to be like other Presidents. I don’t give a damn about solving problems or the ‘war on terror’ or creating jobs, or becoming a major producer of fossil fuel energy. I don’t even care about a health plan. What I care about is the redistribution of wealth and the destruction of this country’s power to create slavery abroad by dominating other nations, especially Islamic nations, through American economic and military power.

Only when the United States takes its place in a world wide family of nations as simply another member of the International Community will I be satisfied. We must follow the European model to provide for all citizens. Where everyone has equal opportunity and a fair shot and a progressive elite manages the economy and directs progress. That’s my legacy. That’s what I want. Real freedom for the middle class.

His Secret Service escort said, “Mr. President he can’t hear you through the door.”

“Too damn bad. I’m not completely nuts. No more of this.” With that outburst he spun on his heel strode back down the tunnel.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com

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 pass on this blog or parts of it to your contacts and friends. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful.

Eight Decades of Insights 65 (factsandfictions.com)
Nothing ‘phony’ about O’s scandals (bostonherald.com)
Obama’s senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer dismisses recent WH scandals as “phony” (redalertpolitics.com)
Is Obama Committing Treason? (westernfrontamerica.com)
Eight Decades of Insights 60 (factsandfictions.com)

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Filed under Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics

Tagged as The Advisor

by Barry Kelly | July 22, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 65

LEADING FROM BEHIND–THE ADVISOR

The Advisor was thinking about how forceful he could be in advising President Obama. The subject for his next visit would be the consequences in foreign policy of leading from behind. The President wasn’t a stupid or a cruel man. He was just a man who carried an enormous amount of baggage.

Could anyone walk away from the influences he was subject to in his earlier life? the advisor thought. Some he was personally responsible for, others he had no real choice. Parents from far to the left, several years in a Muslim Madrassi teaching Wahhabism. His father, an anti-colonialist Kenyan, whose family had been persecuted by the British Colonialists. For most of his formidable years he was exposed to radical leftist ideologies. Then, the influence of Ivy League progressives, Saul Alinsky and his radical plan for seizing power, Reverend Wright and his hate America sermons, William Ayers and his terrorist viewpoint and to top it off the ruthless and corrupt school of Chicago politics. The President never personally suffered from his associations and ideology. Therefore, he has no understanding of the consequences of following a revolutionary ideology. It is probably too late now but I must try. I will never knowingly give him bad advice or try to manipulate him. My mission code does not allow it. After all, he was elected twice and could probably win a third term if it were permitted.

The advisor’s musing is interrupted when the flashing red light and soft chiming called him to the phone.

The President arrived a few minutes later at nine o’clock PM. The President strode into the room, greeted the advisor and said, “Let’s get started. I have some extra time and need a cup of your coffee.”

“Mr. President, you look like a man who doesn’t have a care in the world.”

“Today was good day. No one was asking me to do the impossible. Why do my supporters and staff think I should get involved in everything?”

“You are the ‘point of the spear.’ They count on you to give them what they want without understanding that doing nothing is also, at times, a good action plan. There, a perfect opening for my talk. Remember, you told me to pick the topic. So I’m going to talk about the concept of leading from behind. Please interrupt at any time. I’m going to use foreign affairs as a backdrop for my advice.

“You are in the fifth year of your Presidency. That is long enough for you to own America’s position in the world. You will not like some of my statements. But I will assure you, the the facts are correct. My analysis may be faulty because I project it into the future where no one can be absolutely sure they are right. First our main adversary, Russia. They are stronger now than they were before your election. Today their fleet is in the Mediterranean, something that was inconceivable in the last several decades. They have nearly secured a warm water port in the Med, a Russian goal going back to the czars. They failed in Afghanistan to find a corridor to warm water. Russia’s ability to project power has been limited for centuries because they lacked a port with year round operations capability. The Syrian port of Tartous is the payoff for their support to Assad. Sure, they enjoy threatening American and Israeli interests in the Middle East, but Tartous is the real goal.

“To see more clearly the Russian move into the Middle East, imagine a monopoly game where the winner gains areas of influence and the losers, well, lose. You failed to negotiate a status of forces agreement in Iraq where it was in no one’s interest for the U.S. to abandon the country. Certainly sectarian violence would be lessened if we had a seat at the table. Iran could not supply Syria forces through or over Iraq. Iran could not threaten Iraq if we had maintained a presence in Iraq. Iran would have a harder time supplying Hezbollah and using that force to control Lebanon, another possibility for Russia to exploit to acquire a warm water port. Our anti-ballistic missiles on the ground in Iraq could bring more defense against an Iranian attack on Israel or the Sunni Middle East. ‘Leading from Behind’ policies have resulted in our loss of space supremacy, ABM land-based systems, and talks about unilaterally cutting force size and our inventor of ballistic missiles that have kept us from a nuclear war since WWII. Our loss of influence in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, and Pakistan is not a foreign affairs victory. Leading from behind means you are and will remain behind.

“Leading from behind does not win respect in the world. Your monopoly board does not look good. Putin has no respect for you as leader because he sees you weakening America and, therefore, believes you are not someone he should worry about. Most of the world respects power and distrusts weakness. To world leaders words don’t matter. Words without action are invisible. To start with I advise you to say less and do more. You can project American power without following the old colonial pattern you hate so much.”

The President puts his cup down, grinds out his cigarette.

The Advisor says, “Yes. I have known ever since you sent the bust of Winston Churchill back to England. Your constant concern is for the little nation, the poor people, the Muslim nations over the Colonial West. If you achieve your goal of leveling America and the world, you’ll destroy both and civilization of all will suffer. But that is for another time.”

The President gets up and strides to the door. He looks back as he leaves and says, “You can’t be right.”

The Advisor says, “Goodnight Mr.President,” to the sound of an automatic locking door.

He thought, that went well.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 64 – THE ADVISOR

The Advisor on Big Goverment

“Good evening, Mr. President. Are you ready to hear my advice on the size and scope of government? Really, the same principles apply in some fashion to any very large organization. It’s not primarily dependent on which political party is in power. President Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence, against the advice of my predecessor, two of the worst examples of growing the size of government to fix some problems.

“Conservatives grow the government’s bureaucratic forces to provide security. Liberals grow the bureaucracy to make things equal or to provide welfare services. Both are misguided. All bureaucracies are created to regulate and control the actions of people who actually produce goods and services. These people are the ones who built this nation and who have created the most productive and free society the world has ever seen. They are the substantive force in our civilization. They care little for regulation that makes production more costly or inefficient. They rely on the forces of a free market to guide the economy. The regulators are the process people who do not have creative skills or the individual skills to build or manage but are driven to control the process which means to control the means of productions and distribution. It would be foolish to believe regulation is not needed at times but only in the smallest amount.

“Left to themselves, the regulators will centralize and grow the size of government to the point no business can function efficiently. Today we are close to that point where the founders and leaders of industry have to pay more attention to the impact of government regulations and taxes than to the worldwide forces of the market place.

“The introduction was a bit long and you must want your cup filled and a cigarette. May I pour you some coffee? You’ll find your brand of cigarettes on the table. Any questions so far?”

” Yes, I’m ready, please pour. Although I’m beginning to doubt my sanity. I already think you must be a timeless relic from some faraway ancient civilization and wonder what beyond curiosity brings me back to your cave? Do you ever leave here?”

“Mr. President, the first eight decades of my life were spent above ground. It is much easier underground. We all eventually get here. But we can’t spend too much time talking about me. My past years are of no significance. Advising the President of the United States is a full-time job, especially when we don’t agree on a common set of facts.”

“Second question. Yes. I’ve been here several times now and I still don’t know what I should call you.”

“You may call me anything. I am and have been many things. I’m old enough to have learned names and titles are of little importance compared to the impact a man or woman makes in improving and protecting our world.”

“Maybe I should call you a professor. You know I was one once.”

“Mr. President, I was once a professor but do not prefer that title and you shouldn’t, either.”

“Why not?”

“Well, to start with your academic grades are not good and you were an instructor, not an assistant professor, an associate professor nor a professor. Your current title far surpasses your academic credentials. But let’s get started before you get up and leave. Remember, down here we must have honesty. All pretensions and embellishments must be left at the door. You can pick them up when you leave.

“My worry about big government is the embedded drive in humans to continue the process of centralization. Defined as combining segments of government, business, or religion into fewer and larger segments where fewer and fewer people make decisions. This process expands the scope of control beyond the ability of anyone to be an effective manager and steward of public funds. It is all part of the desire to make things better. Watch, when things go ‘wrong’ the cry is, ‘put someone in charge. Make someone responsible.’ 9/11 gave us that opportunity. Something was wrong. How else could such blow strike our homeland? A conservative government, under President Bush, moved to fix the problem by, of course, putting pieces of government together under a central control. To start with the pieces of government in their separateness, were not well managed. Many of them were already too large. Today Homeland Security is an example of centralizing management until you reach numbing inefficiency. Another example is the DNI organization. The Director of National Intelligence is about the worst fix anyone could have made to improve the collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence. I defy anyone to prove money is being saved or that the product produced has been improved. Top managers of such over-centralized organizations don’t have a clue to what is happening in the trenches. Their main concern is often getting enough reporting from the far reaches of their commands to make them look credible, especially when briefing the President or appearing before an aggressive group of journalists or legislators.

“Unfortunately, both our main political parties are vulnerable to the drive to fix things by centralization. National Health Care or Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, over reaches of OPA and the Department of Energy are other examples of good intentions leading to disastrous unforeseen consequences. While some centralization is necessary, decentralization is the sure path to renewed growth and vitality in both business and government. Good people in charge of manageable organizations can fix problems. Over centralization cannot. Creating a larger population of civil unionized workers is not a good thing even in the short run. To start with, U.S. Government employees should not be members of any union. Who or what does unionization protect them against? They are hired by the people, work for the people and are the people.

“You don’t need anymore union powers lobbying your presidency. Nearly every political pundit comes to realize that the growth in government beyond that which is absolutely necessary, threatens individual freedom and the overall freedom to create and produce new goods and products. Look at all the cases in history where freedom has been lost or eroded by governments grown beyond the need. The growth of government is always pushed by people who have good intentions and a poor understanding of history and management principles. Don’t let your presidency be the one that pushes growth of government beyond need and endangers freedom and economic growth.”

“I’m not sure I believe any of that but I will think on it.”

“Mr. President, thank you. You must make the final decisions. Not all advice is good. Maybe I am not 100% right all the time. But I have no personal or organizational agenda. What do want to cover at our next meeting?”

“You decide. I must go now. It’s a good thing you serve the best coffee and I have the freedom to smoke without anyone giving me disapproving looks. That alone makes me come back.”

The author of the Jack Brandon novels is a Korean War veteran and served in the Vietnam War as a CIA agent who has 27

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

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 pass on this blog or parts of it to your contacts and friends. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful. www.factsandfictions.com.

Eight Decades of Insights 32 (factsandfictions.com)
The High Cost Of Maintaining ‘Homeland Security’ (warnewsupdates.blogspot.com)