A Good Talk With Friends

Former President of the United States of America William Jefferson Clinton gave a speech last night at the DNC in Charlotte. It was a very good speech, but it was more than just a speech. The way it was delivered, it was like a good talk with a friend that you care about. I believe our former President does care deeply for all Americans, and in last night’s speech it showed. If you didn’t get a chance to see it for yourself, bring it up on YouTube.com and watch it in its entirety. Clinton used facts to support his position that we must reelect our current President. He made a lot of sense. Unlike the speeches at the RNC, he didn’t have to resort to lies to make his case to the American people, or even talk to an empty chair. He also refuted many of the lies told by Republicans about the so-called cuts to Medicare and wrongly charged abandonment of the work rule for welfare. The truth is a powerful weapon and I hope that more than a few undecided voters listened.

Clinton looked rather proud of himself when he had finished his talk, and it was certainly deserved. However you may feel about the man personally, it is hard to deny his positive impact on the American economy during his tenure as President. He attributed his success with the economy due to his reliance on “arithmetic.” Perhaps the opposition should take note. Romney would like to cut taxes for the very wealthy because they would use the extra money to create jobs (perhaps an upstairs maid and a downstairs maid?) despite all historic evidence that this simply will not happen. Romney would also increase military spending by a couple of trillion dollars above what the Department of Defense has requested in its budget (that would likely increase employment in the military-industrial complex, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea for sustainable economic growth). Unfortunately, the arithmetic doesn’t add up. If we lower our tax revenues (the planned tax increase for the middle class won’t make up the difference) and increase government spending (Romney would also like to trim other government programs that give aid to the poor and middle class, but will he have enough Congressional support? I hope not.). More spending and less income—oh yeah, and less banking regulation—that’ll really help. You can see why it doesn’t add up. It fails the simple arithmetic test.

No one is perfect. President Obama isn’t perfect, Bill Clinton isn’t perfect, and the Romney-Ryan ticket isn’t perfect either. All of mankind is flawed. Likewise, all systems of government are flawed. Winston Churchill said it best in the quote about democracy included below. There are no perfect answers, but some proposed solutions are better than others. Like I said, you need to watch the speech. Do it with an open mind. When you’re finished, please feel free to post any comments on where you see a failure in the logic of what was said. Please don’t resort to lies or even small misstatements of fact. We don’t need those and they won’t help. The airwaves are currently full of such nonsense, and I can’t bear to hear them anymore. Stick to the facts. I’ll listen, but first, you need to listen.

 “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” 
                           -Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)

 “The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.” 
                           -Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)