Beware of the Clinton legacy

Well, here we are nearly two years before the next presidential election with more candidates than we can count. The Republican candidates, with perhaps the exception of Ron Paul, put me in mind of the seven dwarfs, but without a Snow White. The Democrats with perhaps the exception of Dennis Kucinich, also remind me of the Seven Dwarfs, except that they have their own Snow White, Hillary Clinton, currently the odds-on favorite.

However, before we all climb on the Hillary bandwagon, and recognizing she shouldn’t be condemned for her husband’s administration, there may be some wisdom in recalling some of the Clinton legacy lest it may have infected Hillary.

Remember it was Clinton who gave us NAFTA, WTO and most favored nation trading status with China. The provisions of all of these have resulted in the loss of middle-class manufacturing jobs in industry, particularly in the steel, shoe and textile industries. The news from Detroit suggests the great American auto industry may be next. If these trends aren’t reversed we may soon be reduced to shining each other’s shoes (made in China) and washing each other’s clothes (made in Bangladesh and Nicaragua).

Possibly the worst of the Clinton legacy is the Tele-communications Act of 1996 which gave the public airwaves to a half dozen major Wall Street corporations. These folks now determine what the news is and what we will be able to see and hear. In effect it gave the country to Wall Street.

Thus far Hillary hasn’t repudiated this legacy and given her history and connections she isn’t likely to. With the possible exceptions of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, no one else is likely to either.

This may be a propitious moment for a new Progressive third-party movement to rescue the American industrial middle class!

Roland F. Gray

Oak Harbor

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