Tag Archives: politics

by | March 6, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 104

CHAOS IN THE LAND

I wonder how many people when they hear the word “change” think of a new and better approach to individual and national problems. When I hear that word, I think, “hope and a better life are gone.” It seems that hope and change requires chaos as a required element of the way progressives bring about change. Our president isn’t very good about working on our issues, individual or national. Is it possible that a man who has won two national elections seems to be a reckless, incompetent leader when it comes to management.

Take Obamacare. It would take a battalion of Philadelphia lawyers to mess up the implementation of the Affordable Care Act more than President Obama and his minions. He’s been educated at our best schools, taught Constitutional law at the university level, given countless speeches, and served in the Senate of his state and nation.

Maybe he believes radical transformation of a long-standing national system of government requires widespread chaos as a midwife. When people are in despair over health care, lack of employment, a capricious and/or corrupt civil service, lost lives, and treasure in wars the president never explains or even mentions, the erosion of savings, a poor education system with no other choice for their children, welfare of the nation’s warriors, a government that no one trusts anymore, a national government that has lost respect at home and abroad, and an administration that destroys both individual initiative and American industries, they are ripe for change of any kind. We elected this president twice. Why should he doubt he and the progressive party can offer change people in despair will accept?

You would think the debacle of Obamacare, the rapid growth of the rate of spending more then we take in, the plan to cut back the Army to pre-World War II levels, the push to destroy first coal and then the rest of the fossil fuel sources, the thousands of returning veterans without civilian jobs or the option to remain in the military, the corruption in the IRS, that never seems to be investigated by the Justice Department or the FBI, would be enough to ensure a change in the White House in 2016. Not so. The growth of people who are dependent on government welfare, if incentivized to vote, will be enough to swing the popular vote to the progressives.

Don’t believe President Obama is inept. He isn’t. By his standards and those of Saul Alinsky, the progressives guru, he is right on schedule. The issue is never the issue. Traditional Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and independents —  you don’t have many chances. The 2014 and 2016 elections must be won by the opponents of the progressive party and its foreign ideology.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. This blog is meant to be shared and encourage dialogue.

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EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 101

A COUP IN THE USA?

Is a coup possible in America? If enough of us keep our heads buried in the sand, it will happen sometime. It may not require violence or the deployment of uniformed troops; there have been coups without gunfire in the streets. A coup is simply the shifting of power from an existing norm to a new organization of government that becomes the new norm. A new structure that no longer permits individual freedom to criticize or work to change back to the old system. The slogan ‘one person, one vote, one time’  is an apt description. No violence or dramatic action is required. A coup can happen slowly over a period of years, one small step at a time.

The one thing that is essential for a coup to succeed is the coup sponsors must first destroy the opposition. In America the first opposition to a coup is the opposing political party. The law and courts also protect our current system. The concept of a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government is another bulwark against inside coups. Lastly, our traditions and collective morality make drastic change harder for the coup makers.

Let’s assume that President Obama and his cadre of progressive radicals are working to turn America into a one-party government, run by a self-proclaimed progressive elite, in order to bring about their version of heaven on earth. Are they succeeding? The only way we can tell is to look at their policies and actions over the last six years.

What do they need to do?

(1) Control health care and associated industries. The Obama administration is well on the way to controlling the seven plus percent of the national economy and a very large part of the populace.

(2) Expand the welfare  system under federal control. The welfare system, including unemployment insurance and food stamps, has grown immensely under Obama.

(3) Ensure win at the polls. Using blatant delaying tactics, the administration withheld critical information on Fast and Furious (gun running to the drug cartels),  Ben Ghazi, the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the targeting of journalists, and the true nature of Obamacare. It also fought voter I.D. legislation in all the states aimed at reducing voter fraud. Why would anyone object to identifying themselves at the polling places? The Obama administration knows how to win elections using all possible tactics.

 

(4) Re-distribution of wealth. The increase of welfare programs, the pushing  for higher taxes on the wealthy, and constant messaging to promote class warfare are seen by many as an organized campaign to destroy capitalism and the free market. Plans for a death tax to destroy the economic power of wealthy American families are waiting in the wings. The administration is fully prepared to use the United Nations to re-distribute national wealth through programs like Cap and Trade (global warming).

(5) Shift control of industry from the private sector to federal control. The flow of regulations from the executive branch is at the highest level ever. Many of these regulations give the federal government more control over the means of production. (The killing of the coal industry comes to mind.)

(6)  Encourage class warfare issues. Do you remember President Obama ever giving a speech that did not include class warfare rhetoric like “protecting the middle class,” “the widening gap in income levels,” and “the top 2 percent must pay their fair share?” This is the big lie of the Progressives. Repeat it often enough and people will believe it. (A page out of the Nazi coup success.)

(7) Focus attention on domestic issues. Notice the president almost never gives a speech devoted to foreign policy issues. All his energy is devoted to transforming domestic America. He is so inept at foreign policy that it appears he just doesn’t care about foreign issues.

(8) Destroy the opposition. With considerable help from the hopeless Republican Party leadership, Obama progressives are  well on their way to establishing the ground work for a one-party system.

(9) Control the justice system and the courts. The Department of Justice is under tight control of the progressive agenda. Why else would investigations by Justice employees, including the FBI, be so slow and ineffective? The IRS’s deliberate targeting of conservative groups and the State Department and Joint Chiefs lies and failures of the Ben Ghazi affair are virtually being ignored by the FBI and Justice Department. Congressional inquires by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are, at best, lackadaisical. After the debacle of the Supreme Court’s rewriting of the Affordable Care Act to make it constitutional, can we count on the judicial system to protect the Constitution from the executive branch’s routine usurping of the powers reserved to the Congress? Probably not.

(10) Corrupt the civil service. The IRS, FBI, STATE, EPA, HHS, ENERGY, JUSTICE, EDUCATION, DEA have all lost their claim to being politically neutral. They are, or seem to be, fully on board with the Progressive Party, once the proud Democratic Party.

(11) Weaken the military. Successive deployments have worn down the troops. They need more manpower, not planned cutbacks. New weapon systems need to be planned and procured. The Joint Chiefs of Staff needs to be composed of people who are not afraid to tell the truth and who will not lie to protect the White House. Mission creep turned the campaign in Afghanistan from victory into a defeat. Nation building is not something the military or any part of our government knows how to do. The War in Afghanistan under the current rules of engagement cost us many of our best and bravest.

(12):  Protect the message. Everyone in the Progressive Party must be on the same page. It doesn’t matter if the message is true. Over and over with the big lie while at the same time doing everything possible to censor the opposition. Outspend them, use the power of the government to criticize and punish the media outlets that print and broadcast news that is not favorable to the administration. Fox News and talk radio are examples of  uncontrollable media outlets. Witness the recent effort by the FCC to send its people out to newspaper media outlets to query them on how they decide to publish an article and what is their political position. Under a law-abiding administration, this would be prevented by the Constitution.

If the current governing process is continued, you won’t be able to recognize what is left. Your freedom and control of your own destiny will only be memories. It will  be a coup by a “thousand cuts.” Wake up, America, while there is still time.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels.

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by | February 28, 2014 · 7:30 am
by | February 19, 2014 · 7:45 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 100

EDUCATION: BETTER OR WORSE?

Teaching is a wonderful vocation. My mother taught in a small, rural school in Western Pennsylvania. My brother, his wife and two children taught in

schoolhallway

 the public school system. One is still teaching. All of them are wonderful people. With them the kids always came first. I believe the great majority of American teachers are good people, interested in educating the nation’s children. If that’s true, what then is the problem with the public schools? Something has to be. Probably more than one thing. A recent study I read made a convincing case that our kids compete well with children around the world up to the fourth grade. After four years in the public schools, American children rank lower every year after. The longer they attend public schools, the lower they rank on the international scale. No improvements are in sight.

The breakdown of the family, the violence we tolerate in our inner-city schools, the emasculation of intra-school discipline, and the sweep of political correctness across America all contribute to the state of education as it exists today. A lack of money is not the problem. Washington, D.C., has one of the highest spending rates per student in the nation and its public school system does not serve its children well. I blame two major elements. The first is the growth and power of the teacher’s union. It is now near the top ranking of unions in the wielding of political power. Look at the recent conflict between Governor Scott Walker and the teachers’ union in Wisconsin.

The teacher’s union predominately supports Democratic candidates and policies. So what! That shouldn’t result in the failure of the public schools to serve the nation’s children. Education is the primary pathway to improving social and financial status. If the teacher’s union was primarily made up of Republicans would that improve our public schools? Certainly the failure of the public school system is not because of the political orientation of its membership.

More likely, the failure is the centralization of education and the management of the union that has put political bureaucrats in charge of the nation’s education. The union now exists to grow its power and protect its members. Its number one goal is not to educate our children nor to ensure that the best teachers get rewarded for their work. The states and local school boards are supposed to be in charge of the public schools in their respective states. Schools and universities should not be pushing a political viewpoint. The school’s job is to teach students how to think, not what to think. If, like the unions believe, our public schools are successfully educating our youth, why should they be so adamant against ‘school choice’ and charter schools? This country became great because it valued education and allowed the growth of great universities. Why won’t the Democrats and the union allow the best pre-college schools to flourish? Parents and the children will exercise their freedom to chose the best schools. The result will be the education system our children deserve.

In the meantime, we have a Progressive administration led by a president who does not support school choice. The elite left never does. It goes against their basic ideology. The elite Progressive leadership knows better than you do what education your children should have. It’s a progressive nightmare to try and control a free market system of user’s choice in the field of education. School choice is not in the cards for those focused on transforming America into a socialist totalitarian society.

By the author of the Brandon novels. Like me on Facebook at facebook.com/factsandfictions.

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by | January 27, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 95

OBAMA’S MAGIC SHOW

The skill every magician must have is the ability to misdirect the attention of their audience. Good magicians are experts at re-direction to distract the most attentive audience. President Obama is a master of misdirection. The people, including congressional leaders and political talking heads, view Obama’s actions through a lens that does not apply to the present administration. This old lens evaluated political accomplishments, focused on national problems and the issues that define each problem.

For example, the problem of unemployment. Unemployment is not a new problem. We and the rest of the economically developed world have had more than a hundred years of grappling with unemployment and its associated issues. Financial, banking, and taxation issues often lead the way. Other issues are associated with foreign trade and education, especially the training of the work force, and the size and scope of the federal government.  The size of the federal bureaucracy  and its relationship of the states in our federal system is another relevant issue.

Both parties understand many of these issues need to be worked. The President doesn’t agree. He, like every disciple of Saul Alinsky, follows the mantra, “the issue is never the issue.” The issue is what is to be manipulated and used to destroy the opposition, not solve problems. In this case the opposition is the Republican Party. It must be destroyed or rendered ineffective before Obama’s transformation of America into a socialist nation can be completed.

Let’s look at a few of the Progressives’ misdirection actions.

Unemployment and under-employment: Most all economists and, for that matter, most Americans, know the economy is not good. Everyone knows people who cannot get a job, or are working several jobs. Young people graduating from colleges and universities cannot get jobs commensurate with their training. The facts are that a smaller percentage of Americans are in the work force than at any other time in the last several decades.

Obama’s Misdirection Magic message: Millions of jobs have been created by the Obama Administration. Unemployment is going down. The economy is on the way to recovery. Our policies are working.

The reality: Yes, millions of jobs have been created in the last five years but not nearly enough to keep pace with population growth. The unemployment rate has gone down only because millions of Americans have given up and have dropped out of the work force. If you have given up trying to find a job, you are not counted as being unemployed. The massive infusions of Federal Reserve funds (now tapering off from 86 billion a month to 75 billion per month) have fueled growth in the stock market and widened the gap between people who can afford to invest from those who can’t. But these historically unsound Keynesian monetary beliefs have not stimulated the economic growth that is necessary for everyone to benefit.

Obama Success: Result is that more people become dependent on the Government for living expenses and will vote to keep Progressives in power who will soon transformer our nation into a failing socialist economy.

The American health issue: There is and was broad interest in improving health care. Issues such as extension of health insurance to those who depend on charity or the emergency rooms of our hospitals, keeping your health care when moving from one job to another, the end to people losing their insurance due to “pre-existing conditions,” and several other areas. But most of us did not want to destroy the best medical care system in the world.

The Obama misdirection magic message: “If you like your health care, you can keep it. If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.  The Affordable Health Care Act will save money. Millions of people will be able to afford health care.”  

The reality: The truth is you can’t keep the health care insurance you liked or your doctor and you will pay a significant increase in costs. Also more Americans will be without insurance coverage than before Obamacare started and you may not be able to go to the best health care centers like Mayo or the Cleveland Clinic. 

Obama success: The capitalist system of private insurance companies will be destroyed. Millions of people will be without health insurance. The cost will be so high, the federal government will have to fund health care. The chaos could and probably will result in a single-payer system known as socialized medicine. Millions of people depending on the progressive or socialist government for health care will be captive to the progressive government. If Obama had told what he knew to be true about the Affordable Care Act, it is doubtful it would have passed by the one-vote victory.  Obama won another election by misdirection and hiding information. This formula works for him.

President Obama’s magic show treatment of Benghazi, the IRS, NSA, spying on journalists, foreign policy, energy, tax policy, abuse of executive power, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria will be covered in the near future.

By the Author of the Jack Brandon novels. Please feel free to pass on all or parts of this blog.

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by | November 19, 2013 · 7:45 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-89

English: Tea Party protesters fill the Nationa...

TEA PARTY??

What? Where? Why? How? If we answer those classic questions, we should have a better understanding of the Tea Party.  Almost all of the national media coverage of the Tea Party has been by those who are very negative about this upstart group. “It’s a redneck, racist, and radical extremist group that will destroy the Republican Party.” Both the Progressives and the long-term Republican politicians and theoretical pundits heap abuse on the Tea Party. With good cause because neither of these vocal opposition groups hold the core values of the Tea Party groups and I doubt any of them have ever been to a Tea Party meeting.

I have been to Tea Party meetings and have never seen signs nor heard speakers using racial innuendos. I live in a predominately white part of the South Carolina coast. Our area sent a Tea Party backed representative to the House and later to the Senate. I first heard this black candidate speak at a Tea Party rally in Georgetown, SC. The “radical” core values of Tea Party groups are smaller government, less interference by government in the lives and businesses of citizens, adherence to the Constitution, and restrained government spending. That’s radical? I think not.

The Tea Party Movement is a grass-roots American approach to “enough is enough.” They are astounded at the response of the elected Republican leaders to the excesses of the Obama Administration. How can the leaders of the Republican Party in the House, especially, and in the Senate sit quietly while President Obama trashes the Constitution and the historical checks and balances of the three branches of government? President Obama acts as if he makes, amends, and enforces the law. He even has a Supreme Court Chief Justice who rewrites legislation to enable the Court to proclaim Obamacare is a tax and, therefore, is judged to be Constitutional. Talk about an activist court! There are no checks and balances as long as timid go-along-to-get-along men and women hold Republican seats. Is it time for new leaders. Yes!

I believe only the Tea Party can bring the grass-roots folk of America to return their country to its historical Constitutional foundation. America has had enough of the radical change of Obama. We have seen it and its ugly. Nowhere in the world has the change Obama wants brought anything but tyranny, poverty, and hopelessness. Just look at where the Progressives (Socialists) won power. Which model do you prefer? The Soviet, Chinese, Iranian, Cuban, North Korean, Venezuelan, East Germany, Eastern European in Communist time, or one of the several failed utopian settlements in America?  I am constantly amazed at how many educated Americans are willing to happily march like lemmings off the cliff into a Socialist sea. Where have they been? Can they possible believe the patter of their leader? Don’t they understand what’s behind the lies and socialist rhetoric?

 

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. This blog is solely the idea and analysis of the author. You are encouraged to pass all or part of it to friends and contacts. Comments are welcome and will be acknowledged or answered. Thank you. Continue reading →

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