Monday, April 13, 2015

HRC, who are thee?

There's not much substance left in the Democratic party these days. No real debates, no real policy formulation, no real grassroots input or even solicitation. With the coronation of Hillary Clinton now imminent, the Democratic party is expected to simply lay down and accept that the Clinton dynasty must continue if the party is to have any future at all. Its a common poli-sci joke that "Republicans fall in line, and Democrats fall in love," and as of right now, 2016 looks to be exactly that. The upcoming primary and convention look to be the least interesting in modern times, as Hillary's massive fundraising advantage is likely to drown out anyone else, save for a potential self-funded billionaire candidate.

I challenge all the giddy Democrats now eagerly brandishing "Ready for Hillary" paraphernalia to describe three of her domestic policy proposals. Not 10, not 5, just three. And they can't do it-- why? Not because they haven't done their research, its because Hillary has yet to reveal any domestic policy proposals for 2016. It appears that much of the Democratic party is eager to commit the same mistakes as 2008- nominating an exciting, feel good candidate that we know nothing about. The prospect of electing the first female president in 2016 seems to be enough for many Democrats to blindly support her, no matter her/her husband's disastrous neoliberal record. Hillary knows, that like Obama, she can raise a ton of money, say the right words, push the right buttons, be completely substance free, and cruise into the White House with minimal resistance. She has no reason or incentive to say anything mildly controversial on her way to 1600 Penn.

What we do know is the legacy from her and her husband's time in the White House. While Bill's presidency is somehow cast as a "success", lets do a quick overview. First, the Clintons debut a national healthcare plan, without the input of Congress, which quickly crashed and burned. Next, Bill signed NAFTA, which was written by his predecessor and aggressively opposed by labor unions. NAFTA's legacy is now hardly in dispute, as even centrist economists like Robert Reich who originally supported it openly admit that it destroyed America's manufacturing base, taking millions of decent paying jobs with it. Next came the Brady (gun control) bill, which both failed to reduce gun violence and succeeded at riling up much of white male America against the Democratic party and swelling the membership of the NRA.

Then came the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation reducing the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 6 by 2005. An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased. This decline in owners and increase in stations has reportedly had the effect of radio homogenization, where programming has become similar across formats. The massive right wind media outlets such as Fox News and EIB Radio, which spew fear and hatred 24/7, would not exist in their current form if this law had been passed.

Then, under pressure from Dick Morris to "move to the center", Clinton signed PRWORA, aka "welfare deform", which gutted the US safety net for the most vulnerable (women and children). This act eliminated the AFDC program and replaced with this block-grant, state administered TANF which still exists today. TANF introduced work requirements and put strict limits on the length/amount benefits, to fulfill Clinton's campaign promise of "ending welfare as we know it." Despite his many other failures, Clinton did suceed at that promise- studies have shown that TANF is nowhere near as effective at meeting the (small) cash needs of the most desperate members of society. For 99 percent of TANF recipients, the purchasing power of TANF benefits is below 1996 levels, after adjusting for inflation. TANF provides a safety net to relatively few poor families: in 2012, just 25 families received TANF benefits for every 100 poor families, down from 68 families receiving TANF for every 100 in poverty in 1996.  But for the families that participate in the program, it often is their only source of support, and without it, they would have no cash income to meet their basic needs.

Last but not least were the two financial deregulation bills, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. GLB, informally known as the Citigroup relief bill, tore down the remaining barriers between deposit-insured banking and speculative financial market activity. The CFMA was passed to deliberately prevent the CFTC, under direction of the tough and prescient Brooksley Borne, from actively regulating and supervising the rapidly growing financial derivatives markets. While I could write a whole book on how bad these bills were, suffice to say that both of them are widely regarded as having exacerbated the housing bubble of the 2000's and the subsequent financial crisis and deep recession.

And perhaps worse than what Clinton did do was what he didn't. During his entire 8 years in the White House, Clinton passed no constructive pieces of legislation, made no major investments in clean technology, infrastructure, environmental protection or education, and took no steps to stem the over-financialization of the developing world, which led to financial crises in Mexico, Argentina, and southeast Asia.

Perhaps most disappointing is the mindless Clinton support coming from the burgeoning LGBT community. Hillary's highly contrived advertisement that debuted yesterday featured shots of both gay and lesbian couples, in a blatant attempt to cast herself as a modern, all-inclusive candidate. But despite the fancy camera work, you would have to look hard to find any Democrats who were worse on LGBT equality than the Clintons. As president, Bill Clinton not only signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law, but he also endorsed the military's "Dont Ask, Dont Tell" strategy for "dealing" with homosexuals who wanted to serve their country.  And in that era, Hilary's husband also signed the HIV travel ban into law (it remained on the books for 22 years thereafter), making it the only medical condition ever legislated as a bar to entering the US. Fast forward into the 2000's, and Hillary was one of the last major Democrats to endorse full marriage equality, long after the writing was on the wall. In her failed 2008 campaign, Hillary openly opposed marriage equality, and didn't publicly endorse it until two years ago. 

As far as I can tell, HRC has never publicly apologized for her and her husband's disastrously bad record on LGBT equality (or anything else for that matter). And as long as the LGBT community and Democratic party chooses to ignore her past, she has no reason to do so.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And the moon rose over an open field.
"Kathy, I'm lost", I said,
Though I know she was sleeping
"I'm empty and aching and
I don't know why"

Counting the cars
On the New Jersey Turnpike
The've all come
To look for America,
All come to look for America,
All come to look for America

SIMON & GARFUNKEL LYRICS "America"