I was a republican leader for a day

[franznietzsche]

Of all the positive things one might say about Clinton, "true leader" is one I never thought I'd hear. He pioneered Presidenting-by-opinion-poll! That's not leadership, that's perpetual campaigning.

That idea bothers me a lot less than how most politicians do business.

 

[turbo]

I have always been one to write letters to my elected representatives, but all I get back are form letters, so I do less of that than I should. Perhaps I should put "K Street" in the return address, so they'll respond. This haggling about which party is "better" is a sham. The differences between them primarily relate to which groups they want to give my tax money to and which groups they get their bribes from. At least Clinton left us with a nice surplus, while the "borrow and spend" Bush administration is driving us into the ditch, financially. Why is it that the recent Republican administrations (who invariably campaign on "fiscal responibility" and accuse Democrats of fiscal irresponsibility) manage to run incredible deficits while burdening future generations of taxpayers with debt that will be difficult to pay off with our poor economy? They run this scam constantly, and like lemmings, voters ignore their actions and vote for their words.

Despite the surplus he left, I fault Clinton for supporting globalization, because that puts low-income workers at risk for job loss and wage erosion. Contrary to what the Republicans tell us, low-income workers are the driving force in our economy because they spend every cent they make, and they spend it primarily on consumables. Give a tax cut to wealthy people, and they can splurge on an oriental carpet or a painting, or a new vehicle. Give a tax cut to poor people, and they will buy clothes or shoes for their kids, maybe rent more videos and get snacks for in-home entertainment, and in general put money back into their local economies.