From: chriswa@microsoft.com (Chris Waldron)
Subject: Re: Clinton's support by Blacks
Date: 29 Jul 92 00:06:57 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Distribution: usa


Ms. Howard's article on Bill Clinton IMO is a good representation of his
popular appeal and why he'll recieve support from the African-American
community -- for the most part.  It should be noted, however, that while
Clinton did receive the majority of the black vote in the primary the
overall turnout this year versus 1988 was down.

In article <15851 of soc.culture.african.american> howard@iscsvax.uni.edu
writes:

>a) his background:
>
>Clinton's father was killed in a car accident 3 months before he was
>born. His mother had to leave him with his grandparents for 2 years
>while she finished her nursing degree in Louisiana. She did remarry,
>but Clinton's stepfather became an alcoholic, and beat his mother
ther died just 6
>years later. His mother had breast cancer and had a mastectomy, but
>has recovered. His stepbrother (the son of the alcoholic) became a
>drug addict and was convicted for selling cocaine, and spent
>1 1/2 years in prison (he is now out and off drugs). His mother is
>now married a 4th time.
>
>b) his education: Clinton, without any political connections through
>his family, got outstanding grades and managed to get admitted to
>Georgetown. He worked his way through school. From there he went on
>to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and then to Yale Law School.
>
>c) his wife: Hillary Clinton went to Yale Law School, and then followed
>him to Arkansas, where she has done a lot of work in education and
>the rights of children. She is a successful lawyer as a partner in
>a law firm, and makes about 3 times as much as Bill Clinton does.
>

I too admire Bill Clinton's PERSONAL achievements.  However this is not good
enough of a reason to vote for anyone.  What is important is to examine his
PUBLIC acheivements, positions, actions, and ideology.  This is the only
barometer you have to gauge what kind of policy this individual will
implement that will guide this nation and in turn affect you, your family,
and your community.


We should not allow ourselves to be seduced or diverted by Heratio Algar
biographies.  The last time we saw this played was during the Clarance Thomas
confirmation hearings.  By this reasoning we should appreciate Mr. Thomas's
appointment to the Supreme Court since he had many more obstacals in his path
than Clinton.

>d) his record in Arkansas: Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the
>nation, with a large amount of conservatives in the state. Clinton
>has made the state an attractive tourism (for lakes and parks) and
>retirement area. He imposed standards for teacher competence in
>the public school system (and his 13 year old daughter attends a majority
>black Little Rock public school). He has a good record on civil rights,
>and balanced 11 budgets in a row, including the difficult task of
>raising taxes on the middle and upper class to do so. All this was
>done during the time when the Federal Government, under the Reagan
>administration, drastically cut funding from the federal to the state
>governments.
>

The fact that Clinton's daughter attends a predominately black school is a
nice symbolic gesture however it belies the fact that Arkansas is one of the
few states in the country that lacks a state Civil Right law considering the
fact that one of the most famous civil rights showdowns occurred in Little
Rock in the 50's.  Clinton has done nothing to promote worker's rights.
Arkansas is a right-to-work state.  This anti-union state denies workers the
right to organize and engage in collective bargaining.  The attack on workers
rights in this country has help to exaserbate the 20 years of declining wages
in real terms.  Clinton has a poor environmental record and provided tax
credits to companies for the false promise of job creation.  Here's a small
sample of how Clinton sold out the environment and tax revenues to polluters
according to People Against A Chemically Contaminated Environment, Inc, 200
Laurel Street, Jacksonville, AR 72074, (501) 982-6283:

1985-1989 - The following is a list of companies whose projects were
            approved for AR tax credits under the Manufacturers Sales
            and Use Tax Credit Act of 1985 involving paper mills.
            These companies promised jobs for tax credit projects:

1985     * IP     -       $  22.1 Million
         * G-P    -          39.3    "
           IP     -         278.     "         291 jobs created
           G-P    -          10.7    "          79  "      "
1986     * IP     -         100.     "
         * G-P    -           7.3    "
1987       Nekoosa-          90.4    "           4  "      "
         * IP     -           9.2    "
1988     * IP     -           6.3    "
         * IP     -          17.6    "
         * Nekoosa-          35.     "
1989     * IP     -          74.3    "
         * G-P    -          27.1    "
         * IP     -          13.4    "
         * Potlatch          13.6    "
         * Potlatch           7.4    "
         * Potlatch           7.6    "
           Nekoosa-         600.     "         245  "       "
           G-P    -           5.4    "           5  "       "

        * These projects created zero jobs.


Arkansas, as well as most states, relies on regressive taxation to balance
their budget which is also mandated in most state constitutions.  There is
nothing special over the fact that Clinton balanced any state budget.  Most
likely he had to by law.  The following is income taxes paid by Arkansan as
a percentage of income:

    Poorest 20%         Middle 20%          Richest 1%
        13.2                9.4                 7.9

source: Dollars and Sence July/August 1991
        "A Far Cry From Fair" from Citizen For Tax Justice.

Recall how Clinton used information from the Citizen For Tax Justice to
critize Jerry Brown's tax plan as REGRESSIVE during the campaign.

>e) his positions: Clinton addresses the health care problems, stating
>that all persons should have access to health care and especially
>to preventive medicine care. He is especially concerned about the effect
>of health care costs on the budget, in terms of financing Medicare
>and Medicaid (which is the greatest drag on the deficit), and says
>he is willing to stand up to the insurance companies. He supports
>a human rights approach to foreign policy, believing that democracies
>do not go to war with democracies (and peace means we can spend more
>money at home). He believes in investing in business, especially
>in new technology (such as computer backbone networks, and high
>speed rail). He has proposed a educational loan program where every
>student would be eligible for a loan, and then would have the option
>of doing 2 years of service in the U.S. instead of paying it back
>(such as being a teacher or a drug counselor in an inner city). He
>is pro-choice, but believes that abortion should be "safe, legal,
>and rare", presumably by promoting birth control and responsibility.
>He does not believe homosexuals should be discriminated against,
>and has said that "we should have a tolerant, but not a permissive
>society".

Clinton is on record supporting the Jay Rockefeller's "pay-or-play" plan.
This plan is NOT national health care which polls have shown most Americans
want.  Clinton receives a great deal of his $upport [sic] from the financial
community and right now the insurance companies are stuck with a lot of bad
investments from the 1980's.  They need the premium payments to bail them-
selves out.  Clinton supports the status quo commodity-based approach to
health care which is why he uses the weasel word "AFFORDABLE".  Clinton has
not declared that health care is a RIGHT for all Americans as it is in most
developed nations.  Only the US and South Africa does not provide a system of
national health insurance to all of its citizens.

However Ms. Howard is incorrect when she states that Medicare and Medicaid
are the greated drag on the the deficit.  The greatest drag on the deficit
has and still is defense spending with the interest payment on the debt
running second.  Medicare is paid out through Social Security.  Understand
that Social Security is a TRUST fund and that the government does not have
decretionary power over this money.  The money collect by the government for
Social Security MUST be spent on Social Security.  Social Security has been
running surpluses for years so how can Medicare be blamed for the deficit?
The biggest spending item from the general fund -- the decretionary side
of the budget -- is defense which in turn created the second largest spending
item -- interest on the debt.

People, the deficit has been understated since the mid-1960s when Social
Security was added to the offical budget to hide the true cost of the
Vietnam War.  The war-hawks of the Democratic Leadership Council which
includes Sam Nunn and Al Gore, voted with the Republicans to increase
defense spending that has produced the fiscal mess we now face.

Lets talk about Medicaid.  When we talk about Medicaid we're really taking
about welfare.  Clinton welfare plan would provide training and payments to
receipiant for two years then they would have to find a job at the end of
the period.  His plan eminates from the false idea that welfare recipiants
have been "irresponsible" and "responsibility" needs to be injected into the
system.  It plays right into the media baiting and that liberals have not
been "honest" about people on welfare. Well let's be honest...

    MOST PEOPLE ON WELFARE ARE OFF OF WELFARE AFTER TWO YEARS!

Clinton two year plan statically won't change anything.  Also, according to
Business Week, welfare accounts for less than 4% of state budgets and
according to the Children Defense Fund, welfare accounts for 1% of the
federal budget.  Also, Clinton does not support Medicaid funded abortion.
He supports choice for the "middle class" but no choice for poor women.

I don't have the full numbers on the Arkansas budget but I lived in
neighboring Texas for 5 years and its two biggest budgetary items are prisons
and education.  We haven't had honest dialog here from Clinton who is
pandering to ma$$ media diversionary explainations as to the source of the
nation's ills.

I agree with Clinton's position on child support enforcement.  This will
make a difference to welfare recipients.  However the courts have to been
reformed and government will have to spend more money to speed up cases going
to court.  In Texas it takes 2 years to get a court hearing for child support
cases if you have to go through the state DA's office because you cannot
afford a private attourney.

Clinton's student-loan program is admirable in the sense that young
people can serve the country in ways other than carrying a rifle.
However, Clinton's "loan" would be stronger if he plans to take the banks
out of picture.  Why should the banks profit at the expense of young people
forging a livlihood for themselves?  I received my college education through
government grants and my father's Social Security survivor benefits. The
generation before me received their education through the GI-Bill with no
strings attached.

>f) his choice of Vice-President: Albert Gore is a senator that is
>known for spending large amounts of time researching issues. He
>is an expert on the environment, and the author of the book
>_Earth in the Balance_, published in Febuary, 1992. He has promoted
>sustainable agriculture. Gore has encouraged the development of manufacturing
>jobs in producing products that use less energy and are less polluting,
>such as refrigerators that do not use CFC's, wind and solar power,
>more energy-efficient homes, cars, etc.

Al Gore is an interesting case study.  He has been annoited as a strong
voice on the environment yet his voting record shows that he voted for
some of the most lethal weapons known to man.  As most environmentalist
knows, the military-industrial-complex is the WORLD's worst polluter.
Gore has voted for the MX missle, B-2 bommer, the Gulf War, etc.  Remember
Willie Horton?  Well it was Gore that brought up the furlough issue against
Dukasis (sp?) in '88 that opened the door for the Republicans.  Gore played
the "tough-on-crime" card and the Dum-Dems got burned by it.  Yet the media
attributes trouble making to Jackson.  Gore also voted for the Hyde Amendment
yet now supports choice.

However Gore has spoken for the need for the US to retain its technological
edge and advocates a US industrial policy.

>Comment: I'm already tired of the labels "liberal" and "conservative".
>What I see in Bill Clinton is a moderate person, who believes in
>having balanced budgets and reasonable taxes, but also is strongly
>anti-racist. Maybe some blacks would not be satisfied with anyone
>who is not black. I believe that this ticket is a good one. The
>perfect candidate does not exist. The scrutiny it takes to become
>president, as Ross Perot found out, is something very few people in
>this country would be willing to do. Why does Bill Clinton do it?
>I think he does it because, after your father and 2 stepfathers have
>died, and you have nearly lost your mother and your brother, you might
>start to think that God put you on this earth for some purpose.
>
>
>-Mary Howard
>

Ms. Howard arguement of being tired of labels is very seductive.  With the
crap that called information these days who wouldn't want to throw their
hands up in disgust.  However politicans peddle ideologies.  Defining an
ideology allows us to identify and communicate our political positions and
views and describe the policies that we want to see implemented.  If we do
not define ourselves, we will leave ourselves open to be defined by OTHERS
and for OTHERS to misrepresent themselves and our views.

Clinton and Gore look good but they are both cut from the same Democratic
Leadership Council cloth.  This is why blacks are not enthusiastic for
Clinton.  The DLC was created as a response to the Rainbow Coalition, to
move the party away from its traditional liberal base, and to regain the
votes of the Reagan Democrats -- who were lured away via coded racist themes.

This nation has only a twenty year window to get its act together before
people in the largest workforce this nation has ever seen begins to retire.
This country requires a FUNDEMENTAL systematic change to its laisse-faire
special interest brand of capitialism. Clinton/Gore, Bush/Quayle represents
politics as usual.

"True compassion is more than throwing money, it comes from fundemental
change.  The ediface needs to be restructured because the ediface is
creating beggars." -- Martin Luther King.


ChrisWa.



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