Category Archives: Progressives

by Barry Kelly | September 12, 2012 · 9:41 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS #19

LETTER TO FAMILY & FRIENDS

I was asked recently to comment on the use of lies, flip flopping, and spin in the presidential campaign. Politicians from both parties and their surrogates are and have been guilty of all these methods of distortion. I will concentrate on those of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party in this blog because I believe the distortions here are more dangerous to our nation than those of their opponents and are more outside the normal use of truth twisting. I am aware of my own bias in favor of centrist policies and hope I will not offend my many Democrat friends, present or past. I’m going to present the case in bullet form without paragraphs of evidence.

*President Obama is often mistakenly accused of lying when he simply failed to reach one of his goals: Unemployment under 8 percent and cut the deficit in half in his first term if he was given more than 800 billion of stimulus to spend. Those are not lies; they are simply failures of management and leadership.

* Obamacare will be deficit neutral. No one now believes that will happen. Lie? Probably not. But the denial of movement of 700 plus billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare is much closer to the definition of a lie. Many would say that is just slight-of-hand budgeting and more in line with spinning the truth. It seems clear this transfer happened but the faithful will say it was all going to a medical fund for the American people. The choice is yours.

* Repeated charges that the Republican Party is waging a war on women is a hard stretch to fit under political spin. Did Secretary Sebelius of HHS anticipate the firestorm that followed her decree that the Catholic Church had to pay for contraceptives for women who worked in all Catholic hospitals, clinics, and schools? The issue was and is, simply: Could the president force the Catholic Church to pay for something that is against their religious beliefs? To me this is clearly an example of the Big Lie strategy. Speakers at the DNC expanded on the extent of the “war on women” to fears of losing their right to vote or exercise of their right to decide on having an abortion. Maybe they were reading too much into the Republican Party platform. Platforms of both parties, no longer, if ever, follow principles. They are used to give radical and fringe elements evidence of their influence in return for their support.

Keynesian Economics

* If only Congress, especially the House, would pass the president’s Jobs Bill or bills, millions of jobs would be created. Lie or an example of the vast difference between Progressive and Republican financial theories? I think this is not the president or his surrogates lying. This issue is a philosophical chasm that divides conservative from progressive. The Keynesian theory, in simple form is that government spending or pump priming can grow the economy and bring an economic system from recession to a growth mode. It can add jobs in the public sector and in infrastructure improvements as long as the taxpayers continue to pay the costs. It does not create wealth or long-term growth. Only the private sector by expanding the supply of goods and services to sell in the free market can create wealth and improve the gross national product.

Henry Morgenthau, FDR’s Secretary of Treasury and financial guru, remarked after several years of trying Keynesian economics that it just doesn’t work. Contrary to folklore, the unemployment rate late into President Roosevelt’s tenure was more than 12 percent. Many communists and socialist nations have tried to develop growth and national wealth through varying forms of Keynesian schemes. All failed. Yet it remains a mantra of the far left, while to Progressives supply side economics is still the enemy of growth, even though its record shows a very high rate of success. While it is true that the House and the Senate have not passed the president’s jobs plan nor any of his budgets, their failure is due more to their lack of fiscal reality than to partisan politics. Not one Democrat voted for any of the president’s budgets. (This is an example of political spinning and differing beliefs and not lying.)

* Political spinning is also the answer to conflicts about the amount of jobs created, when, by whom, and at what cost. The whole rationale of how the unemployment rate is computed gives wide latitude to different claims. Progressive ads and political claims are often not lying, just avoiding the unpleasant facts in favor of partisan sound bites. And every time a politician, from either party, changes his or her mind in the face of new information or an internal conviction, their new position should not be called flip-flopping. Maybe it was the right thing to do.

Rather than labeling opposition statements as lies, wouldn’t it be better to shed light on the truth, even the relative truth?

http://www.factsandfictions.com The author of the Jack Brandon thriller series.

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Filed under Conservative views, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as Catholic Church, contraceptives, DNC, FDR, flip flopping, Gross National Product, keynesian, Obama, pump priming, Sebellius

by Barry Kelly | August 16, 2012 · 7:31 am

Eight Decades of Insights – 15

YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION WHEN THE OPPOSITION DEVOUTLY BELIEVES THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.

My last blog emphasized the need to focus on the big picture and not on shifting issues. The president and his whole administration know the goal is to get re-elected: “Nothing else matters. Say anything. Do anything. Never mind the law. Sort that out later. When we win, we will own the courts. Use the full power of the executive office where it is needed. Increase subsidies, extend payments, fight voter ID, sue states, block investigations, try to deny late voting to veterans, leak if it helps build short-term credibility.” These are things the administration is willing to do. And don’t expect a serious effort by the administration to find and punish the leaker.

I have seen real leak investigations. When the president is angry about leaks, the leaker is found and sometimes exposed. These leaks are so spectacular that only a few people could have provided the information to the NYT. The FBI and a counter-intelligence team could find the leaker in two weeks if allowed to do what they know how to do. Mandatory polygraphs of less than twenty people to start. But remember: The end justifies the means. Failing to get four more years is the only thing to fear.

These are smart people. Take immigration. President Obama showed the brilliance of his campaign when he bypassed Congress and issued the essence of the Dream Act by executive order. Senator Marco Rubio lost his unique platform and the Republican Party its chance to make serious inroads into the Hispanic community and to win Florida big.

The Obama brain trust has at least one more ace up its sleeve. They must now be talking about cutting some baggage. Does anyone believe that the vice president is a net gain for the campaign? He is a gaffe a speech and standing beside the president on the platform he looks and acts like he has been or never was politician. Can he debate Ryan? I think not. So, think about it, should this end justifiy the means and should ‘followers of Saul Alinsky’ even think twice about throwing the VP under the first bus?

No! Watch the convention when a tearful VP tells the convention that the campaign and the responsibilities of another four years is just more than he can do. It isn’t fair to the president or the American people and the highly respected financial genius replacing him will help the party and the nation, thereby challenging Ryan’s contribution to the Republican ticket.

That is my prediction. It will happen unless the Obama brain trust believes it can win with Joe. In that case, the Romney/Ryan ticket must have made some catastrophic blunder or blunders.

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Filed under Conservative views, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as Alinsky, Biden, brain trust, courts, current-events, FBI, leaks, Obama, politics, Romney, Rubio, Ryan, VP

by Barry Kelly | August 11, 2012 · 6:02 pm

Eight Decades of Insights – 14

VOTE THE ISSUES, BUT NOT REALLY

It seems to me that voters in past elections could mull over the issues and decide which candidate supported issues important to them. It was then easy to go to the polls and vote for their choice. Not now. The rules have changed, but no one told you. You are being bombarded with issue-ladened ads extolling one candidate or the other, as if this election is about issues. It is not. Maybe the Republican candidate is still playing by the old rules. If he keeps that belief and keeps reacting to shifting changes in President Obama’s campaign, he will surely lose. It is not about issues for the Progressives. It is about getting elected and keeping power to continue the transformation of America.

If you are a person focussed on the ISSUES, you must be dizzy by now with all the shifts and changes of the Progressives (read Left Wing Democratic Party). Talk about: “I was for it, before I was against it, now I’m for it again but my opponents have taken my words out of context.” The same confusion is true of numbers. Does anyone believe that more taxes from the 1% of the richest of our people can make up, even marginally, the gap between spending and revenue? Only steady growth can provide the revenue needed.

Don’t think the hard core of the Democratic Party is dumb or uncoordinated. They are not. David Axelrod and team are extremely smart and street wise. They believe elections are not won by issues. Elections are won by winning a majority of voters in a few swing states. You do this not by fighting over issues, but by destroying the opposing candidate and making promises to the electorate that cannot be kept. Truth doesn’t matter. Perception does. The Big Lie or Lies told over and over in various forums can and has worked.

Yes, the rules have changed. No, no one told you. Studying what the president said when he was a candidate himself, or when he was a senator or when he was in Akron or some other place using Air Force One and all the trappings of the president to conduct political fundraisers doesn’t matter. He will say and do what is necessary to get elected. Don’t ever forget that the Progressive mantra is that the end does justify the means. Progressives are not worried about morality, truth, or even consistency.

Don’t pay attention to issues and political ads. Think instead what it will mean to America for more of the same under President Obama or for a change in direction by a more traditional politician who doesn’t believe in “transforming” America. Lean back and imagine what four more years of transformation could do. Forget the Progressive fog of bewildering issues and slandering attacks. In our history we have seen what a divided America can mean. Don’t let it happen again. Vote the big picture and change the rules back, so we can debate over real issues to improve our country. And may the good Democrats recapture their party.

God bless our Warriors and our Olympic athletes. They are wonderful.

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Filed under class warfare, Conservative views, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as big lie, election

by Barry Kelly | July 25, 2012 · 11:36 pm

Eight Decades of Insights – 13

The following are my opinions based on years of government service and academic study. This piece is not about Republicans versus Democrats. I’ve voted both ways and miss the Democratic Party that has been taken over by the Progressives who are definitely not Democrats or believers in the American Dream.

This election is not about Obamacare, war in Afghanistan, fossil fuel vs green renewables, immigration/border control, nuclear weapons for Iran, the Arab Spring, radical islam, monetary policy or all the other burning issues that disguise the real struggle.
In November the contest is about power. Everything else is simply a distraction or tactic to further the Progressives only goal, which is to get power and keep it. Only the Progressive Socialists understand the only real prize is power. It is perfectly acceptable within this ideology to say anything and do anything as long as one is focussed on getting power. Truth doesn’t matter. Keeping your word is not important. They are only words that can be recycled for the faithful. The “end justifies the means” is the Progressive ideological mantra.

This is not a conspiracy of the Democratic Party. The traditional Democrats are not evil. They are Americans who believe they have won an election.They are focused on the Progressive dream of a perfect utopian America. Now the Democrats must join with their Progressive leaders to achieve the goal of transforming America. Heard that before. Believe it. It is real. Before transformation America was a nation whose political system was founded on the diversification of power. Checks and balances. Three equal branches of Government. The Progressive agenda cannot prevail with power diffused. Piece by piece it must be centralized. Control of the health industry, the financial structure, industry, especially manufacturing, housing, traditional power generating resources, commerce and, of course, the unions is the prize. Jobs and the economy are only important as a means in the struggle for power. A failing economy, burdened with debt and high unemployment presents Progressives with opportunity.

Does acceptance that the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party is following a campaign focussed on centralizing power make current events and issues understandable? I believe it does. Mr. Alinsky has provided the plan. Now his disciples have only to carry it out. (Read Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals for more enlightenment.)

What traditional American political party would even consider undertaking the following issues and actions?
*Class warfare rhetoric about taxing the rich, taxpayers making more than $200K annually. Surely, they know the revenue gain would be marginal. But for the Progressives, the political appeal to the fifty per cent that pay no income taxes is a winning argument. The middle class is a force that must be destroyed. The middle class, in the Progressive scheme, is very different. We will all be in their middle class. It will be the only class. No one failing. No one succeeding. This is not the stuff of the American dream where hard work and sacrifice provide opportunity for the individual to advance. Try to get elected preaching the line that everyone gets the same income regardless of their success and work skills. It’s far too early for that political platform.
*Pushing an unpopular, poorly crafted health care bill through Congress was politically wise? Only for the goal of centralizing seven per cent of the economy was it worth the storm of protest. Thousands of new IRS officers will be policing the system. What better way to control people and their destiny. Is making the IRS even stronger and more pervasive an attractive political goal?
*Use of the Justice Department to challenge the power of the House of Representatives. Making the Congress look stupid is worth the few shouts of protests. The Justice Department will not investigated any White House leaks or anything else that reflects badly on the Administration. Forget border security and “Fast and Furious,” suing states, investigating voter ID laws in swing states is more likely. This is not the traditional Justice Department that protected our freedom. President Nixon misused the power of the executive branch and we know what happened to him.
*Deliberty dissing our traditional allies, the U.K. and Israel as well as India and Poland, all democracies. While catering to Russia, the Muslim world, Venezuela and China. Not a democracy among them. Is this traditional American foreign policy? Has it ever happened before?
*Supporting disruptive street demonstrations and the willful destruction of property by the “Occupy Wall Street” mob led by Van Jones, a former Obama Czar for Green industry and an avowed communist. Search your memory for the last time the Democratic or Republican Party publicly supported a similar action.
*Bringing back the very unpopular “Death Tax”. Why bring this up in an election year? Some believe that the Progressive wing of the Democratic party has always wanted to destroy wealthy family dynasties. They can weld too much power so they can be a check to Progressive attempts to gather power. And it appeals to the “want it now have nots”.
*Before any political group can usurp power, they must control the military. A weak military force with weak leadership is a much easier target. Taking money from Defense and using it on entitlement programs makes Progressive sense. It weakens the military and spreads more wealth to those who depend upon government and who vote for the hand that feeds them. Did anyone think sequestration would work? The Republican leadership that hasn’t yet figured out what is happening, fell for the sequestration bait. Now the nation has to cope with declining power in a dangerous world.
*What political party ever set out to destroy the American power industry? Or send billions of taxpayer dollars to make believe green solutions for energy independence? Progressives talk “all of the above,” but act differently. And routinely use the power of Executive Orders to marginalize Congress.

Does the above make sense within the American political sphere? Not for any traditional party. For the Progressives, it is the only platform they can use to transform America. Most of us will not recognize or like the end result.

Be careful Democrats! If the Progressives win, the next election could have very different rules and you won’t be part of it.