One of the biggest betrayals I have felt in the democratic party was the term of Bill Clinton. I don't understand how it is he was able to pass conservative bills and not be held accountable for them. What amazes me even more is how conservatives say he was a very liberal President. I'll sight a few accomplishments to help prove my point.
1) NAFTA
This treaty was the most harmful international legislation to change Mexico, the USA and Canada for the worse. First off, thousands of workers lost their jobs in the United States. In areas such as Michigan, factory workers were laid off since corporations could get cheaper labor south of the border. A candidate who claimed to be pro-labor turned his back on those who supported him. Secondly Mexico lost as well. The PRI administration re-wrote its constitution so it could sell land owed to its citizens, to greedy corporations. Another party that claimed to be a leftest party turned its back. Many farmers in Chiapas lost their land and ignited a revolution that continues to this day. Corporate companies built factories where workers are paid less than a dolar with horrible working conditions. There have been incidents where women are forced to take contraceptives so they don't leave work. Major stores such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and so on have left Mexican based stores in ruins. Tijuana looks a lot more like Los Angeles than it did 10 years ago. The lower standard of living has increased the flow of undocumented immigrants to the United States. NAFTA is never talked about when addressing the issue of "illegal" immigration. The corporate news outlets demonize Mexicans saying they came out like bandits with NAFTA, which is an obvious and conceded lie.
2) Soft Money
Liberal Presidents are not supposed to collect more money than their Republican counter-part, but that's what Clinton did when he ran against Bob Dole. Clinton never raised the issue of Soft Money very much, since he took so much bribe money. If Democrats are so anti-corporate, then why have they accepted so much money from them. AT&T should put their seal on the Donkey's ass.
3) Minority Rights
First black President? What exactly did he do to deserve that title? Affirmative Action was killed while he was president. Minorities in general were worse off during the time Clinton was President. Their poverty rates rose and it is harder for a person of color to go to school now than it was in 1991 under Bush Sr.
4) Wellfare Reform
Why did President Clinton push for this? The "Working out of welfare" program is a complete failure. He allowed the so called "liberal" media to demonize the public into believing there was an epidemic of single black mothers "abusing" the welfare program. Not only did he not try to stop conservatives from doing this, he joined them! The real welfare robbers are the greedy corporations who get tax breaks, bailouts and enormous and myriad subsidies. Corporate welfare programs take away from public investments. When 1 in 5 children live in poverty, the corporate media focuses instead on sensational issues.
5) War Time President
If the war in Iraq was so bad for Dems now, why was Clinton given a free pass? I don't know if this is still right, but there were more casualties from Clinton ordering bombings than Bush S. On top of that Clinton did nothing to stop the embargos put on Iraq or Cuba. Over half a million have died because of the embargos.
These were a few things I could think of on top of my head. I feel that the Democratic party has taken huge leaps towards the right and it is not good. What is the point of voting when there are little differences between the candidates running? If you disagree feel free to say so and why.
