Category Archives: Politics

by Barry Kelly | May 6, 2016 · 3:22 pm

INSIGHTS 259 ENOUGH OF THE GOP PURISTS

How much of this whining do we have to hear from the ideological purists of the Republican establishment? They had their chances and failed every time. They supported two flawed candidates, McCain and Romney. We gave them control of the Senate and House and they failed again. Now the Bushes, Romney, George Wills, the National Review and Weekly Standard pundits, Paul Ryan in his Speaker of the House position, McConnell as the Majority Leader in the Senate and failed presidential candidate Senator Graham are vowing they cannot support or vote for Mr. Trump. In the long-term who cares about them but in the short run to the elections, they should grow up and do what is good for America. That is not a hard choice if they can get over their self-appointed political guardianship of intellectual conservatism and focus on what the nation so desperately needs.

Clearly the Obama Administration will leave the nation with several critical areas that need immediate bipartisan attention. The ideological conservative purists need to focus on what is good for America and not solely on worshiping at the altar of Conservatism. These areas need a pragmatic approach consistent with the Constitution and the rule of law:

Re-establish the co-equal branches of government with the checks and balances spelled out in the Constitution;

Control America’s national borders;

Rebuild our military force levels and weapon systems;

Replace OBAMACARE;

Make American companies competitive by reducing taxation and regulation by Executive Departments and Agencies;

As the national economy grows, pay down the debt and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure;

Shift responsibilities such as education and healthcare back to the States; and

Apply common sense to the size and scope of the Federal Government.

GOP leaders get over your purist problems and get on with fixing problems. No more ‘leading from behind’ or the ‘issue is never the issue.’ You are being paid by the people to make their lives safer and better, not to enforce your own brand of ideology of government. Get with the program. Take on the issues. You may not get another chance. Socialist and Progressive controlled governments do not give second chances.

1 Comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, democrats, Eight Decades of Insights, General, Intelligence & Politics, Obamacare, political solutions, Politics, Progressives, Republicans, Romney

by Barry Kelly | April 26, 2016 · 5:48 pm

INSIGHTS 258 Blog Bits and Pieces

Never expect an ideologue purist of the left/right or elsewhere in the true believer world to solve problems. They, first and foremost, are totally focused on ideological purity. To solve problems, you need to turn to pragmatists. Purists cannot make deals requiring compromises. Purity is more important to them than progress. When looking for leadership you won’t find it in the ranks of the extreme left or right.

When he raves on and on about the RN Convention and its rules, Paul Ryan, The Speaker of the House, looks and sounds, like a professional bean counter. “The rules are the rules.” Baloney what if they are undemocratic and have the main purpose of negating the votes of the people in favor of the Republican Party hacks who have been getting away with this dishonesty for far too long. Maybe the rules should be junked in favor of the millions of primary voters. What is so sacred about the 1237 number? With multiple candidates that is a hard number to get. Maybe that is why Gov. Kasich was encouraged to keep running so the Republican Party hacks can have their open convention and again show the people how little they care about their votes. A sad state of affairs.

What is Governor Kasich doing? Is he a viable candidate? Hardily, he has a good resume but is a hopeless campaigner. He won Ohio after a hard campaign and that is his home state where he controlled the state’s political machine. How can he afford to keep campaigning? He has no chance of topping either Trump or Cruz. He is like a vulture circling the Cleveland Convention looking and waiting for the political death of Trump and Cruz at the hands of RNC and its archaic rules. Kasich must be funded by and doing the bidding of the ‘Never Trump’ movement. He makes it harder for either Trump or Cruz to win a majority of the vote, clearing the way for a contested convention. Doesn’t he realize the political class will either throw him under the bus or pat him on the head and send him back to Ohio just before they bring in their candidate.

Are South Carolina Republican politicians listening to the people? Don’t think so. The People voted overwhelming for Mr. Trump yet Governor Halley, Trey Gowdy and both Senators are supporting Senator Cruz. What do they know, we do not? Maybe they are thinking they are part of the establishment of the political class that knows better than the people who elected them. Even the Tea Party has lost its way and doesn’t listen to its members or even ask them. Tea Party surveys of their membership are primarily an undisguised form of soliciting funds. How quickly politicians become inner directed.

If the Republican National Committee and the Republican political class don’t want to honor our votes in the primary, how can they believe the votes will be there in November? At least they are consistent, they never listen to the people. The talking heads and RNC officials are yammering ‘the rules are the rules’ for delegate selection. What they don’t say is why are those particular rules in place.

They are not designed to aid the democratic voting process in the future. They were crafted in the past to make sure the political party officials maintained control over candidate selection. They didn’t then or now trust the people to choose the candidate. The people might decide they don’t need the members of the political insider elite to keep hanging around. Anything other than a true primary where the people vote for a candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins is not a democratic process no matter the arcane rules involving the selection of individual delegates.

Bottom line, it is a divide and conquer tactic for local, state and national party officials to ensure they get a candidate they want. What happened in Colorado and could happen with the uncommitted delegates in Pennsylvania, regardless of the rules or when they were published, is a disgrace and to continue to defend this process is shameful.

3 Comments

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

by Barry Kelly | March 20, 2016 · 7:19 pm

INSIGHTS 256 The Real Choice

Do you believe the FBI has the political courage to recommend Hillary Clinton be brought up on criminal charges for her exposure of classified information and the use of her political office for financial gain via the Clinton Foundation? Remember such a charge would seriously harm the Democratic Party’s pursuit of the Presidency. Bringing charges against Hillary when it is only months away from the election would probably make it impossible for the Democratic Party to mount an effective campaign. Each passing day is critical to their campaign. I think the FBI may have the courage to recommend a Grand Jury but the Justice Department will not act to pursue the FBI’s recommendation. They will find someway to bury or nullify the charges. Remember the Justice Department is the Presidents. Attorney Generals do not indict Presidents or their primary advisors. Did President Nixon’s Justice Department seriously investigate the Watergate affair? No, it was the media and the Congress.

So who would head up the Democratic Party’s campaign for the Presidency if Hillary has to drop out, Bernie Sanders? That would be great. A real choice between Socialism and Capitalism. Trump against Sanders. America needs to have this political battle. The creeping socialism of the last few decades is more dangerous than giving people the clear choice between Capitalism and Socialism. Our entire educational system leans hard to the side of Socialism. Just ask the Teachers Union a series of questions about their treatment of free enterprise and big government in the class room. Almost everyone under 30 years of age believes in the beautiful words socialists use to describe redistribution of wealth, a fair shot for everyone, and very high taxes on the wealthy and corporations. They haven’t lived long enough or read enough history to see that the promises of Socialism lead to the ugly repression of elite government where all of life’s important choices are made for all people, except the elites. They may love Bernie but they won’t like where he is leading them. But Trump also has a problem.

While Hillary is threatened by a criminal indictment, Donald Trump is being attacked by people who should be supporting him. The Republican establishment composed of career politicians and self-appointed keepers of the purity of conservatism has failed to keep faith with the people who sent them to Washington. They are far more interested in perpetuating their own positions than in solving the nation’s problems. Just look at how they have taken care of themselves. Incredible life-long pensions for very short periods of service, ability to vote themselves raises, exemption from the onerous provisions of the laws they pass but that don’t apply to members of Congress. Now these pampered members of the political class are doing all they can to end Donald Trump’s journey to winning the Republican Party’s nomination. They are frightened because they know his success will endanger their elite existence. They will not be able to control him and he owes nothing to the lobbyists who fund so many members of the Republican and Democratic career politicians. So far he has been doing a very strange thing. He has been listening to the American People and they have not. Only a very small handful of Senators or Representatives have been doing the work of the people. None of them are in positions of power, including the Speaker and the Senate Majority leader. They claim to be dedicated to the traditional principles of the conservative movement. Maybe, but I don’t believe it. They are champions of the go alone, get along group that have aided President Obama’s socialist transformation of America policies. Just look at the last budget Speaker Ryan put forward. Exciting times! Stay tuned. Stay informed.

1 Comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Capitalism, Clinton, Conservative views, democrats, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions

Tagged as Capitalism, education, socialism

by Barry Kelly | March 14, 2016 · 3:10 pm

INSIGHTS 255 FIRST AMENDMENT SPIN

Candidates for the Republicans and Democrats are all showing what they really feel about the Ist Amendment to the Constitution. When they think it benefits their campaigns, they are quite willing to claim it is Donald Trump’s fault demonstrators are disrupting his political rallies.

Free speech rights end when people with opposing beliefs attempt to prevent a candidate from speaking to people who want to hear the candidate speak in an open forum. What you are seeing is the ugly hand of the progressive party’s supporters. How else do demonstrators coordinate their actions and show up with professional signs? I expect this kind of biased PC from the liberal left, but not from competing Republican candidates. A number of FOX commentators have joined the progressive media in the spinning of the blame for these disruptions that endanger the First Amendment, the people and the police.

Where does the establishment of the political class end? Has the political class established roots throughout our government? Do they even care who governs as long as they can control the political process to protect their positions?

1 Comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, democrats, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Politics, Presidential Debate, Progressives

by Barry Kelly | March 12, 2016 · 4:12 pm

INSIGHTS 254 FORGET THE LABELS-GET IT DONE

Are you as tired as I am of hearing politicians say I’m a true conservative or I hold strong liberal views or I’m a fiscal libertarian, or I vote for progressive candidates? Enough of the ideological purists. We’ve had one for the last 7 plus years. How has that worked out? Well, we elected twice, the worst president in living memory, if not in our total political history. So, over half of us must be attracted to candidates claiming to be ideological purists. Enough of this madness. Whatever their beliefs, it is what they do that counts. Can the candidate of our choice, protect Americans and the American nation? Can they govern within our economic realities? Do they understand how wealth is created? Will they surround themselves with smart people and listen to them and the American people?

We understand the difference between verbal claims and performance in the world of sports. If you don’t produce, you’re out. The coaches and managers don’t care about your political ideology. In each contest you have to prove you can do your job. Imagine a professional sports coach starting their interview for the head coaching job by saying, I’m a conservative, or a liberal, or a Presbyterian, or a Buddhist or a Muslim. Think the team’s owner would be impressed? The whole infatuation with purist titles is not relevant when it comes to solving problems and managing something as vast and complicated as our government.

President Obama got his job by speaking eloquently about his vision of transforming America. He had no experience managing anything. College instructors, community organizers and state or federal senators don’t manage anything. In President Obama’s case his ideology, was influenced, if not formed, by the writings of Mr. Saul Alinsky. Mr. Alinsky’s central premise is, “The Issue is never The Issue.” By that he meant issues don’t matter. Don’t even try to solve problems or fix things. Just use each issue to destroy the opposition. Take any side of any issue and change sides whenever it is to your advantage to do so. The end always justifies the means when your purpose is to take power away from those who have it and give it to those who don’t. Progressives, following Mr. Alinsky’s teaching, believe lying is not a bad thing. Hillary Clinton has also been influenced by Mr. Alinsky, whom she knew personally. Lying to accomplish goals is a part of her drive to win the highest office in the land.

I don’t care if the coaches of the professional sports teams I follow, share my personal beliefs or a political label with me. I just want them to build the team and win games. Let’s get over voting for ideological purity and elect someone who can solve problems and fix what’s wrong with the nation and put American back it is proper place in the world. Both our people and the world will benefit.