Tag Archives: government

by Barry Kelly | December 12, 2012 · 5:19 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 30

FISCAL

CLIFF

Are you tired of the term, ‘GOING OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF’? I am. I wish all the politicians in Washington would join a pack of lemmings and go over the nearest cliff. Then we could start over and get a real agreement. One that is good for the nation, not just good for radicals.

Why is it so hard to reach an agreement? The problem is simple and fundamental. Our two parties have very different objectives. Let’s start with the Progressives of the Obama party. Can you believe that a president who hasn’t had a Congressionally approved budget in all of his first term is interested in budgets, deficits, and future financing for entitlement programs or defense of the nation? His last “budget” was rejected unanimously by members of both parties in the Senate. Using my yardstick of what a president should do, this man is a total failure. But if you use a different measuring system, one crafted over the years by foreign and domestic Progressives, he has an outstanding record. He said he would transform America and he has and he still is. In another four years, America will be a very different place. What my generation and previous generations strived and fought for will be gone. Collectivism, not individualism, will be the banner. There maybe freedom but it will be a very different freedom.

From the president’s perspective, what does he say he wants before he can agree on action to avoid the cliff issues? He wants to raise taxes on the rich (people making more than $250,000 per year.) He wants the power to raise the debt limit whenever he thinks an increase is required. He does not want any cuts or changes to entitlement programs. He wants more money to spend on stimulus packages. He wants real revenue now and maybe, spending cuts sometime in the future. That is the package the Republicans think they are trying to negotiate. They are trying to find agreement on a fiscal and deficit problem. That is not the real battle. No matter how much they comprise or capitulate there is no fiscally sound path in these negotiations. Not now. Not later.

This cliff thing is another phase in the transforming of America. Keep your eye on the power game. Achieving a one-party system is part of the transformation process. The two-party system is an obstacle to the collectivist goals of the Progressives. The major goal is to marginalize the Republican Party. The president has proven his ability to out-message his opponents. His mandate, truly won, is for a far superior numbers game in getting out the vote and in defining his opponents in populist terms by endlessly repeating simplistic slogans. Accuracy and truth were not front and center. Instead it was the use of 21st century mass appeal campaigning, appealing to the fears and desires of targeted interest groups, not presenting plans or programs for the good of the nation. The election did not provide a mandate on ideas or national requirements. Neither the president nor the speaker should talk about mandates.

Rhetoric about going over the cliff is only the fog generated to conceal the real objectives of the ruling Progressives.

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

3 Comments

Filed under Alinsky, centralization, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, fiscal cliff, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as current-events, deficit problem, government, politics

by Barry Kelly | November 28, 2012 · 2:06 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 28

politics (Photo credit: Asoka G M)

LEADERSHIP, NOT NOW

The nation is in trouble. Trouble, that is not the fault of either political party. We are all to blame. The problem is identifying and fixing the tax code, Government spending, social programs, allocation of resources and regulations. The problem can be fixed. Beginning to correct what needs corrected is not hard. What is hard is finding the leaders who can move us toward the required results. Leadership is sometimes defined as a person who can influence a group of people toward a specific result. If you have found that kind of leadership in our political system, you are either very kind or a lot smarter than I am. I’m from the school that believes leaders and managers are not necessarily the same thing. Managers are born out of experience. Leaders are born. Governor Romney is an example of a very good manager. The people were looking for a leader and he didn’t convince them he was that person. President Obama is neither a leader nor a manager, except of campaigning. There have been few equals of the President when it comes to winning election against formidable odds. He wasn’t born a leader and he didn’t have the opportunities or desire to learn management skills. And they must be learned in a crucible where results and progress are harshly measured. My examples of Presidential leaders are Washington, Lincoln and Reagan. Every major American industry has produced scores of good managers. Even the Government has had a few.

Don’t blame the President for seeming like he is always campaigning. He has mastered that skill and with David Axelrod in his corner, he is a winner. One of my rules of life is that no matter what the problem, people do what they know how to do. Our President knows how to win elections. Don’t fault him for talking to the people. He won on a successful campaign of dividing the populace. Don’t expect him to now work to bring the people together to solve our common problem. He can’t and he won’t. Why change when you are winning? He promised to transform America and he is making progress. To transform anything you must destroy the existing system. Is he a champion of Capitalism, the free market, individual freedoms or the belief that economic growth is the answer to overall prosperity? Off the basketball court, I don’t believe he sees winners and those who don’t. His fair shot rhetoric means to lessen the gap between those who have too little material goods and those who have more than enough, by handicapping our best achievers.

On the other side of our political spectrum are those who lost a political campaign when all odds were in their favor. Until they figure out who they are and that the goal of political life is more than getting re-elected, don’t expect much help from them. Fiscal cliff or not, go over it or not, is not the issue. Getting the Democrats to move back toward the center and the Republicans to move into the 21st century and both recognizing the crisis is at least half their fault, must come before a responsible solution is even remotely possible. Expect instead more kicking the oil drum down the street. Oil drums don’t kick very far, especially uphill.

http://www.factsandfictions.com By the Author of the Jack Brandon Thriller Series.

4 Comments

Filed under Alexrod, Capitalism, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, fiscal cliff, General, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics, Romney

Tagged as Barack Obama, government, Leadership, Mitt Romney, politics, Republican, United States

by Barry Kelly | September 6, 2012 · 12:54 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS #18

BEYOND THE WORDS

Words are the fuel of politics. During an election cycle as important as this one, Americans are bombarded with words that are interpreted according to the experience, education, and existing beliefs of the audience. One of these terms, “share the wealth,” has been a cry of the progressive utopians, socialists, and communists. Hitler’s Germany used the promise of shared wealth and “every one belongs to the government.” Nazi Germany was not a right-wing autocracy. They called themselves The National Socialist Party. Lenin and Stalin’s Russia was a dictatorship of the proletariat (today’s have-nots.) This, too, was extreme left wing group. Land, bread, peace was the early slogan. Class warfare was the end result. Share the wealth certainly fit this monstrous regime. Mao’s communist China also promised a wealth-sharing economy.

Is there anyone who would like to live under any of these regimes with left-wing roots who practiced genocide and class warfare in the name of “sharing wealth” and with all people swearing allegiance to the government and all benefits coming from the government? Everyone belonged to the government. Party and government were the same. Only the leaders of government or party benefited. To various degrees, the people under these regimes struggled to overthrow these totalitarian regimes.

We, in America, have a history of well-meaning populists, progressives, or socialists writing about the beauty of living in a utopian society where everyone worked for the good of the society, with all sharing in the common good. These societies all fell. The experiments all failed because the reality of leveling society means the exceptional or better than average have to be pulled down for everyone to have equality and sharing of the wealth generated by others. The field of civilization can not be evened by everyone being pulled up to be exceptional. Everyone can not be exceptional. But everyone’s status in life can be improved by hard work in a society that does its best to give everyone equal opportunity.

One of the enduring lessons of history is that some level of government is necessary and circumstances can cause the relative size of government to increase to meet threats. The more powerful a government becomes, the greater danger it is to individual freedom. Under President Obama, the federal government is constantly increasing in size and scope. The Executive Office has assumed powers formerly and constitutionally left to Congress and the states. Cabinet officers now routinely issue Department orders, not Executive Orders, that have the force of law. In the first two years of his administration, while we were all consumed with the push to nationalize health care, the ground work was laid to steadily increase the power of the Executive Office. Four more years of this type of government and Greece will look good. Beware of leaders who espouse class warfare, using the slogan “everyone pays a fair share” and sharing of wealth and the joy of belonging to the government.

http://www.factsandfictions.com Author of the Jack Brandon Thriller Series

1 Comment

Filed under Intelligence & Politics

Tagged as China, Class conflict, Executive Orders, government, Nazi, Nazi Germany, Obama, share the wealth, United State

by Barry Kelly | May 1, 2012 · 4:41 pm

Eight Decades of Insights – 10

This November, we will have a chance to exercise our freedom of choice at the polling places. Important principles will be identified on the left and on the right and our positions on those principles will determine our vote. In a true republic, contesting adversaries usually must compromise on some of their principles. This is only possible when the voter recognizes that all principles are not equal. Some cannot be compromised. Others can. The hard part is deciding where you stand.

I have thought my position through. I’m basically a right/center conservative who will, at times, chose to vote a split ticket. There is no perfect candidate for any office. Sorry about that. When Barack Obama was elected, I was proud of my country for electing a black man as president. Not that I voted for him. He did not fit my requirements for a president. I served in the White House under President Reagan and it is not a position where learning on the job is a viable option. Without significant leadership and management experience, no one can succeed as president. Experience as a community organizer, state senator, a two-year member of the Senate, and four years campaigning from the White House just does not prepare you for the job , no matter how intelligent you may be. Enough about that.

Back to the hard part. Where do you stand? Where can you compromise? What is your ranking of governing principles? Below are 20 questions I believe are worth considering before November 2012. There is nothing scientific about these questions or the order in which they are presented. They don’t even reflect my own order of political principles. Below I have presented the number of yes votes as a means for you to classify where you fit in the political spectrum from the far right to the far left. No scientific process here. It is all subjective and you can do your own scoring.

1. DO YOU BELIEVE THE FREE MARKET WITH LIMITED GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IS PREFERABLE TO A GOVERNMENT MANAGED ECONOMY?

2. DO YOU BELIEVE OUR CURRENT DEBT IS A NATIONAL CRISES AND WE SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE STEPS TO END BORROWING AND PAY DOWN THE DEBT?

3. DO YOU BELIEVE THE CURRENT CORPORATE TAX RATE SHOULD BE LOWERED TO ENCOURAGE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE RENEWAL OF MANUFACTURING IN THE UNITED STATES?

4. DO YOU BELIEVE EVERY PERSON WITH AN INCOME ABOVE MINIMUM WAGE LEVELS SHOULD PAY SOME FEDERAL INCOME TAX?

5. DO YOU BELIEVE A VOTER I.D. REQUIREMENT SHOULD BE UP TO THE STATES?

6. DO YOU BELIEVE FREEDOM REQUIRES ETERNAL VIGILANCE AND BIG GOVERNMENT PRESENTS A BIGGER THREAT TO INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM THAN A MORE LIMITED GOVERNMENT?

7. DO YOU BELIEVE OUR CURRENT INCOME TAX CODE NEEDS TO BE REVISED?

8. DO YOU BELIEVE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES UNIONS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONDUCT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR SALARY AND BENEFITS?

9. DO YOU BELIEVE ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS NEED TO BE REVISED TO ENSURE SOLVENCY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS?

10. DO YOU BELIEVE COURTS SHOULD INTERPRET AND ADJUDICATE EXISTING LAW VERSUS MAKING LAW?

11. DO YOU BELIEVE TERM LIMITS FOR LEGISLATORS WOULD IMPROVE THEIR RESPONSIVENESS TO THEIR CONSTITUENCIES?

12. DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAINTAINING A STRONG MILITARY?

13. DO YOU BELIEVE WHILE ALL PEOPLE ARE EQUAL UNDER THE LAW, THEY HAVE VASTLY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ABILITY?

14. DO YOU BELIEVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS THE WRONG WAY TO ENCOURAGE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT?

15. DO YOU BELIEVE THE RECENT LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION ON INDUSTRY SLOWS ECONOMIC GROWTH?

16. DO YOU BELIEVE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AT ANY LEVEL, SHOULD NOT EXCLUSIVELY TEACH PARTISAN VIEWS, EITHER LEFT OR RIGHT?

17. DO YOU BELIEVE THE RIGHTS OF STATES TO GOVERN SHOULD BE PROTECTED FROM FEDERAL INCURSIONS?

18. DO YOU BELIEVE OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE IMPROVED FOR ALL CITIZENS?

19. DO YOU BELIEVE WE NEED TO HAVE AN ENERGY POLICY TO INCREASE FOSSIL FUEL DEVELOPMENT NOW WHIIE CONDUCTING BASIC RESEARCH TO FIND OTHER FORMS OF ENERGY?

20. DO YOU BELIEVE THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM SHOULD BE TRANSPARENT AND RESPONSIVE TO CONGRESSIONAL GUIDELINES?

If you have 16 to 20 yes answers, you are a strong conservative. I judge a score of 12 to 16 yes answers puts you in the right of center wing. If your yes answers are less than five I think you can call yourself far left. My guess is a score of 6 to 10 yes answers puts you in the political center. Remember, this process is subjective. If you don’t like the results change the range of numbers. The important thing is that you consider these principles and some I’ve missed before you vote. We must find a working center in the next administration. We have historically been a slightly right of center people. We can govern from there and let the political fringes have their say.