Democrats and the working class
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Civil Rights Act, spearheaded by LBJ, 1964. Social Security, The 40 hour work week, (organized labor, supported by Democrats) Child Labor Laws, the EPA, welfare, the Great Society initatives, Environmental protections acts enacted under Clinton in 1993, 94, and 96, affirmative action, multiculturalism, the push by many Democrats for a universal health care system, etc.
The 40 hour work week and child labor had nothing to do with the Democrats and everything to do with the Unions and early American Communist parties and of course the millions of working class citizens who stood up and fought against the republicans and democrats. In fact, all of the Democratic presidents, especially Roosevelt, did everything in their power to suppress the working class, which included violence and murder. It was only through the mass movements, strikes and sit downs of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that the Democrats were forced to give in to their demands. In fact, there were over 78,000 strikes with in a 20 year period, led and organized by the Unions and Communist parties.
Affirmative action and any other “equal rights” programs were also forced upon the democrats. What were the Dems doing in the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s for the blacks? It was only because of the mass movements of millions of people across America that they were forced to adapt to these new ideas.
I don’t know much about the environmental programs by Clinton, but are you seriously saying the majority of dems are pushing for a universal health care system?
My question was, "what Democratic president in American history genuinely fought for the working and poor classes?" I'm not interested in who submitted to policies that the working class benefited from, I'm interested if there were ANY democrat or republican presidents who actually committed themselves to the working class of america.
Affirmative action and any other “equal rights” programs were also forced upon the democrats. What were the Dems doing in the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s for the blacks? It was only because of the mass movements of millions of people across America that they were forced to adapt to these new ideas.
I don’t know much about the environmental programs by Clinton, but are you seriously saying the majority of dems are pushing for a universal health care system?
My question was, "what Democratic president in American history genuinely fought for the working and poor classes?" I'm not interested in who submitted to policies that the working class benefited from, I'm interested if there were ANY democrat or republican presidents who actually committed themselves to the working class of america.
While the American Democrats are far from social democrats or the kind of humane social policy I would like to see, they are clearly the better alternative from the viewpoint of the poor (since you are stuck with the ridiculous two-party system).
The shut-down of suburbs and down-sizing of social expenditure reached a certain kind of climax during the joyous era of the Reagan Administration, causing the problems of the slums to become increasingly acute (and since the economic policies of the Gipper enjoyed impunity, the blame was dumped on crack). Bush Sr continued on the way paved by his mentor; enrichening the rich and impoverishing the poor.
It’s a recognized fact that Clinton considerably improved social security and the level of education (in addition to boosting the economy). Unfortunately, this (relatively) good period was then disrupted by the tax-cuts and senseless economic policy of Bush Jr, whereby all the capital accumulated during the Clinton was squandered away and reduced below zero.
The shut-down of suburbs and down-sizing of social expenditure reached a certain kind of climax during the joyous era of the Reagan Administration, causing the problems of the slums to become increasingly acute (and since the economic policies of the Gipper enjoyed impunity, the blame was dumped on crack). Bush Sr continued on the way paved by his mentor; enrichening the rich and impoverishing the poor.
It’s a recognized fact that Clinton considerably improved social security and the level of education (in addition to boosting the economy). Unfortunately, this (relatively) good period was then disrupted by the tax-cuts and senseless economic policy of Bush Jr, whereby all the capital accumulated during the Clinton was squandered away and reduced below zero.
We would NOT see universal health care under ANY Republican president, ever, unless his ass got fought on it and won because his veto got overruled.
None. Ever. But I believe our government is entering a new age of accountability after the upsurge of interest in politics after 9/11. The better choice is clearly Democrat, though Nader would be the best possible choice.
None. Ever. But I believe our government is entering a new age of accountability after the upsurge of interest in politics after 9/11. The better choice is clearly Democrat, though Nader would be the best possible choice.
a child is born. this child has 1 parent, lives in extream poverty and from birth to age 18 is sourrounded by drugs and viloance.
its all this child knows, its all this child has ever seen. its been a part of its life scence birth.
how does this child then turn into a adult and managa to break this cycle?
well the child i just decribed is real and theirs millions of them right here in america.
do not get me wrong, theirs always gonna be poverty and thus theirs always gonna be povertys results.
but govermentaly funded social programs do help deal with some of these problems.
its not enougth to just take a statement like "work harded and you wont be poor".
i know because i lived 2 years of my life in a run down shack with no running water and no electric. we used karsoien heaters and put 5 gallon buckets under the gutters to collect water when it rained so we could get cleaned up and cook when we had food....i had 2 parents but they were both at the time hooked on crank and alchocal. and they would vanish for a week at a time leaveing me to deal with my 2 sisters on my own......no lie once we had to live 3 days on a old bag of dogfood........when we got kicked out of that house i lived 8-9 mounths in the back of a car. all 5 of us did...then my dad cleaned up and took my sisters with him to try and rebild their life. but i was stuck with my mom and me her and my new stepdad spent the next 4 years liveing in a 1 bed motel room with my aunt and 2 cousins. thats 6 people liveing in 1 room....me and my cousin used to have to steal our food from a gas station storage shed across the street from the motel.....
this was my life from birth until about age 14-15. i was one of the children i mentioned above.
but one night something happened i have never told anyone and i will not ever tell anyone. all i will say is it was something that changed my mother and me and my stepfather lifes forever. and it changed it for the better. they cleaned up got off drugs and liquor and sout out a few programs to help us try and break the cycle.
we went on walfair.
we was able to get a 3 bedroom house on section 8.
we ate off foodstamps.
my mom was able to go back to school and get her ged.
and she got a good paying job and so did my stepfather.
within 3 years we were completely off all goverment programs. and liveing week to week on our own paychecks not a rich life but a decent one.
we struggled sometimes but we always found a way threw it.
but its because of those programs i can sit here today still breathing and wright this post.
im a novice to politics. i wont lie about that. and if anyone wants to know why i spell so badly or why i cant articlate my points as well as others on here its because insteed of school i spent most my time just tryn to survive. and im tryin real hard these days to fix that.
im a 100% soupporter of goverment funded social programs.
and i relize the goverment cant uplift people. that decsion has got to come from the people theirselfs. the people liveing in the shit i lived in has got to make that chooise to change. but once they do decide to do so and make the commintment to do so. i belive their should be a lil help avb.
such as section 8
food stamps. and walfair.
as long as its not abused.
to me for someone to say "work hard and you wont be poor, what a fuckin concept" while it is a true statement. it dosent even come close to understanding the day to day struggles that people in extream poverty deal with.
its never that easy. in fact is the hardest shit ive ever had to deal with and it gets inside your mind and beats you until that way of life is nolonger a condistion, but insteed a way of life. and in the eyes and minds of these children soon to be
adults that live in poverty their is no way out because they know no other way to live. so they have kids and on and on and on.
everynow and then a person will become strong enougth to make a break towards a better life. and thats the social programs play a part far beyond a handout. but as a lil helping hand to kinda push you up the ladder.
heres my point
i belive the demos are better at relizeing this and funding it.
but people have to get their on their own. and its not the goverments responcabilty to get them their.
when i see bush cuttin daycare programs it pisses me off.
when i see clinton refrom walfair and turn it into a platform to do better rather than a way of life i stand up and applaude
but i seen this when i was poor and i see it now that im not. people drive by and look at a poor hard up struggling family and say to themselfs " god damn you bastards get out their and get a decent job and you wont have to live like that"
poverty is a state of mind and a way of life taught from birth.
its impossible for me to put into words. but in short its just not easy to turn the corner.
so your comment while true does not even come close grasping the mindset of the american born, raised and liveing in poverty.
.
its all this child knows, its all this child has ever seen. its been a part of its life scence birth.
how does this child then turn into a adult and managa to break this cycle?
well the child i just decribed is real and theirs millions of them right here in america.
do not get me wrong, theirs always gonna be poverty and thus theirs always gonna be povertys results.
but govermentaly funded social programs do help deal with some of these problems.
its not enougth to just take a statement like "work harded and you wont be poor".
i know because i lived 2 years of my life in a run down shack with no running water and no electric. we used karsoien heaters and put 5 gallon buckets under the gutters to collect water when it rained so we could get cleaned up and cook when we had food....i had 2 parents but they were both at the time hooked on crank and alchocal. and they would vanish for a week at a time leaveing me to deal with my 2 sisters on my own......no lie once we had to live 3 days on a old bag of dogfood........when we got kicked out of that house i lived 8-9 mounths in the back of a car. all 5 of us did...then my dad cleaned up and took my sisters with him to try and rebild their life. but i was stuck with my mom and me her and my new stepdad spent the next 4 years liveing in a 1 bed motel room with my aunt and 2 cousins. thats 6 people liveing in 1 room....me and my cousin used to have to steal our food from a gas station storage shed across the street from the motel.....
this was my life from birth until about age 14-15. i was one of the children i mentioned above.
but one night something happened i have never told anyone and i will not ever tell anyone. all i will say is it was something that changed my mother and me and my stepfather lifes forever. and it changed it for the better. they cleaned up got off drugs and liquor and sout out a few programs to help us try and break the cycle.
we went on walfair.
we was able to get a 3 bedroom house on section 8.
we ate off foodstamps.
my mom was able to go back to school and get her ged.
and she got a good paying job and so did my stepfather.
within 3 years we were completely off all goverment programs. and liveing week to week on our own paychecks not a rich life but a decent one.
we struggled sometimes but we always found a way threw it.
but its because of those programs i can sit here today still breathing and wright this post.
im a novice to politics. i wont lie about that. and if anyone wants to know why i spell so badly or why i cant articlate my points as well as others on here its because insteed of school i spent most my time just tryn to survive. and im tryin real hard these days to fix that.
im a 100% soupporter of goverment funded social programs.
and i relize the goverment cant uplift people. that decsion has got to come from the people theirselfs. the people liveing in the shit i lived in has got to make that chooise to change. but once they do decide to do so and make the commintment to do so. i belive their should be a lil help avb.
such as section 8
food stamps. and walfair.
as long as its not abused.
to me for someone to say "work hard and you wont be poor, what a fuckin concept" while it is a true statement. it dosent even come close to understanding the day to day struggles that people in extream poverty deal with.
its never that easy. in fact is the hardest shit ive ever had to deal with and it gets inside your mind and beats you until that way of life is nolonger a condistion, but insteed a way of life. and in the eyes and minds of these children soon to be
adults that live in poverty their is no way out because they know no other way to live. so they have kids and on and on and on.
everynow and then a person will become strong enougth to make a break towards a better life. and thats the social programs play a part far beyond a handout. but as a lil helping hand to kinda push you up the ladder.
heres my point
i belive the demos are better at relizeing this and funding it.
but people have to get their on their own. and its not the goverments responcabilty to get them their.
when i see bush cuttin daycare programs it pisses me off.
when i see clinton refrom walfair and turn it into a platform to do better rather than a way of life i stand up and applaude
but i seen this when i was poor and i see it now that im not. people drive by and look at a poor hard up struggling family and say to themselfs " god damn you bastards get out their and get a decent job and you wont have to live like that"
poverty is a state of mind and a way of life taught from birth.
its impossible for me to put into words. but in short its just not easy to turn the corner.
so your comment while true does not even come close grasping the mindset of the american born, raised and liveing in poverty.
.
Spitz, don't worry about spelling, grammar, etc. All that comes with time and education.
When i was 14 I used to talk like this: "What nigga yall aint knowin blood whats the hiz cuzin"...lmao. I was sorry as fuck...I didn't read, write, go to school or anything. I got 5 credits in high school in 2 freshman years combined, and that was just because they had a weightlifting P.E. class.
I thought selling dope was a good way to end up in life, and used to do bum shit like snatching purses, tagging, etc. It was actually politics that got me interested in getting an education. I had a teacher that was so incredibly anti-white, I was like I can't believe this bitch is saying this. Of course me being half Mexican I would always be like nah I'm Mexican homie...but my mom is a straight coconut Mexican, white-looking, and I'm also half-white, white-looking, etc, so obviously I had an identity with white people as well, even moreso than my "Mexican" side.
So I got so pissed at the shit this teacher was spitting...basically shit like "white people are the evil race in the world" I was like fuck this I'm gonna come back at this bitch. I started with reading the book she assigned to us, then I started listening to conservative talk radio, then i started reading more and more books. I picked up shit by Rush Limbaugh, Michael Moore, Neal Boortz, alot of major talk radio personalities, and started studying more in more subjects.
I ended up graduating high school, even tho I was a 5 year super senior, I did 4 years worth of work in my junior and senior years, going to community colleges at night thanks to *big government services* and I'm off to college at the end of this week. Everyone has to start somewhere, and alot of the shit you spit is alot more real than the shit put out by most of this board.
Conservative logic is basically this: "You can do it yourself, anybody can." Anyone can repeat that. I used to when I first got into politics and listened to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage.
The reality of that statement is big businesses and rich people want more money, so they tell people to "get the government out of our lives", which really means "Give rich people a tax break", "Give my industry a license to spit out more cancer-causing agents and pollutants", "Give the people who already have money more of it".
It's bullshit. We live in the richest country in the world, and people can't see giving help to those who need it. Where is their bullshit "Christianity" then? Poverty is a generational and mental cycle.
Government statistics say that most people on welfare are white, from the suburbs, and only go on welfare for 2 years. Yet conservatives make the ridiculous claim that black people and other poor people are "addicted to welfare". It's fucking ludicrous.
Tadou, the foremost conservative on this board (and frequent spewer of ridiculous bullshit statements) made the claim that people need to do it themselves, after admitting that the government paid for his food stamps growing up, his housing, and is now paying for 90% of his education. That's "big government" at its finest.
Yet he did not even notice his own hypocrisy. This, and statements like "just do it yourself", is the mental simplicity we work with daily. So don't trip on your spelling or grammar. You could never come across as stupid as DaytonFamily, tadou, No Logic, or any other "independant conservative" on this board.
When i was 14 I used to talk like this: "What nigga yall aint knowin blood whats the hiz cuzin"...lmao. I was sorry as fuck...I didn't read, write, go to school or anything. I got 5 credits in high school in 2 freshman years combined, and that was just because they had a weightlifting P.E. class.
I thought selling dope was a good way to end up in life, and used to do bum shit like snatching purses, tagging, etc. It was actually politics that got me interested in getting an education. I had a teacher that was so incredibly anti-white, I was like I can't believe this bitch is saying this. Of course me being half Mexican I would always be like nah I'm Mexican homie...but my mom is a straight coconut Mexican, white-looking, and I'm also half-white, white-looking, etc, so obviously I had an identity with white people as well, even moreso than my "Mexican" side.
So I got so pissed at the shit this teacher was spitting...basically shit like "white people are the evil race in the world" I was like fuck this I'm gonna come back at this bitch. I started with reading the book she assigned to us, then I started listening to conservative talk radio, then i started reading more and more books. I picked up shit by Rush Limbaugh, Michael Moore, Neal Boortz, alot of major talk radio personalities, and started studying more in more subjects.
I ended up graduating high school, even tho I was a 5 year super senior, I did 4 years worth of work in my junior and senior years, going to community colleges at night thanks to *big government services* and I'm off to college at the end of this week. Everyone has to start somewhere, and alot of the shit you spit is alot more real than the shit put out by most of this board.
Conservative logic is basically this: "You can do it yourself, anybody can." Anyone can repeat that. I used to when I first got into politics and listened to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage.
The reality of that statement is big businesses and rich people want more money, so they tell people to "get the government out of our lives", which really means "Give rich people a tax break", "Give my industry a license to spit out more cancer-causing agents and pollutants", "Give the people who already have money more of it".
It's bullshit. We live in the richest country in the world, and people can't see giving help to those who need it. Where is their bullshit "Christianity" then? Poverty is a generational and mental cycle.
Government statistics say that most people on welfare are white, from the suburbs, and only go on welfare for 2 years. Yet conservatives make the ridiculous claim that black people and other poor people are "addicted to welfare". It's fucking ludicrous.
Tadou, the foremost conservative on this board (and frequent spewer of ridiculous bullshit statements) made the claim that people need to do it themselves, after admitting that the government paid for his food stamps growing up, his housing, and is now paying for 90% of his education. That's "big government" at its finest.
Yet he did not even notice his own hypocrisy. This, and statements like "just do it yourself", is the mental simplicity we work with daily. So don't trip on your spelling or grammar. You could never come across as stupid as DaytonFamily, tadou, No Logic, or any other "independant conservative" on this board.
^ i aint trippin off my spelling. i just know that most of the time i post something people read it and say to theirself " this stupid ass redneck cant even spell he has no idea what hes talking about"
im like half way done with a long ass story im wrighting ( and spell checking) about poverty in america and the resultes of it.
in it im tryin to talk about how the people that have the biggest stake in whos elected president ( people in poverty) simply dont vote. and im tryin to exsplaine my theroy of why.
anyway ill be posteing it soon here and on other fourms. its my first attempt to wright and artical type........thing...story...whatever.
i look foward to everyones take on it.
im like half way done with a long ass story im wrighting ( and spell checking) about poverty in america and the resultes of it.
in it im tryin to talk about how the people that have the biggest stake in whos elected president ( people in poverty) simply dont vote. and im tryin to exsplaine my theroy of why.
anyway ill be posteing it soon here and on other fourms. its my first attempt to wright and artical type........thing...story...whatever.
i look foward to everyones take on it.
spitz you said it your self,
as long as its not abused.
i belive very few people take advantage of these programs to make them selves better. most just do it to get by. and thats bull shit.
my mom grew up in a 1 bedroom apt with 5 sisters 1 brother and no dad, her dad died when she was 3. 2 of her older sisters had at leat 1 kid by 18. they lived there also. my grandmother nearly killed her self working double shifts as a nurse to support them all. my mom learned from this didnt have shit for a long time. worked 16 hour days 2 differenct jobs struggled for years and years, but never once took a cent. she couldnt afford to go to college and didnt. but right now she is about ready to retire is in a high managment postion at a credit union, had a 6 bedroom house on 2 1/2 acres with 3 cars. she makes more money then my dad who grew up rich and had every benafit in the world and graduated from college. she made it because she wanted to, plain and simple. my uncle owns a multi million dollar construction company, never graduated from college and grew up just like my mom. had 3 kids by the time he was 25. hes about to build a 3 million dollar house in a few months that he designed himself.
my wife grew up broke as fuck her mom used meth was an alcaholic brought back men and slept with them infront of my wife and her sister. my wife raised her sister from the time she was 3 or 4. she was forced to drop out of school when she was 15 so she could drive her mom to work and work with her mom at a denyys to support her family. she had a 3.8 at the time even with all the shit she was going through. she had to drive her mom because she was either to drunk or to high to do it her self. a few months later her mom quit work and she had my wife do it, she took every single cent she made. i was with her while all this happened. i was there when her parents didnt say 1 word to her for 4 or 5 months at a time. there when her dad threatened to beat the shit out of her till i stepped in front. there when her dad tried to get full custody and put a restraning order aganist me and my family. there when her dad finally gave up ditched them and her mom dropped her off at my parents house one day and said bye im moving to ohio.
my family took her in she stayed there for about a year, till we got married i woke up and got at least a low paying job and we moved into a shitty apartment. that was last year. now i making around 4,000 a month we got a nice 2 bedroom 2 cars my wife finished high school and is starting college at a JC tommarow. is in a nursing program to become an RN, then she is going to work while going to school to become a obgyn. we have a 2 month old healthy and happy baby girl that will have every advantage that she didnt have.
my mom and wife both were fucked from the start and they made it.
i didnt even graduate from high school and im making 4,000 a month legit. i started bussing tables now im waiting tables on the best shit and soon am going to move up into a mangment postion at the casino where i work.
how i got there. worked 70-80 hours a week,
some people give up. my wifes siter who went through the same shit, is in and out of mental hospitals sleeping with and getting pregnate by many different men, and has had a few miscarages that we know of. no school no job no friends no family.
she is the exact opposite of where my wife is.
i belive anyone can do it with out welfair food stamps and other shit. i think they should be around for a few people. but while i worked at vons i saw so many middle class people come through with wic it was ridiculous. id see them drive off in a brand new car. you know what get a 97 and feed your child your self. its bull shit plain and simple. any one can say fuck it i make money but i dont want to pay to feed my child so ill make everyone else do it.
it is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to easy to get shit from the goveremnt. and i feel as long as its this easy and democrats want it to be this easy, people wont become motivated people wont get off there ass and people wont better them selves just for the simple fact of they can get by with doing nothing.
im glad for ya mom and for you and i hope everythings straight with ya life now.
but when i see people with my own eyes do shit them selves and come from nothing to something, without help from the goverment. i cant buy people saying we need this or that.
as long as its not abused.
i belive very few people take advantage of these programs to make them selves better. most just do it to get by. and thats bull shit.
my mom grew up in a 1 bedroom apt with 5 sisters 1 brother and no dad, her dad died when she was 3. 2 of her older sisters had at leat 1 kid by 18. they lived there also. my grandmother nearly killed her self working double shifts as a nurse to support them all. my mom learned from this didnt have shit for a long time. worked 16 hour days 2 differenct jobs struggled for years and years, but never once took a cent. she couldnt afford to go to college and didnt. but right now she is about ready to retire is in a high managment postion at a credit union, had a 6 bedroom house on 2 1/2 acres with 3 cars. she makes more money then my dad who grew up rich and had every benafit in the world and graduated from college. she made it because she wanted to, plain and simple. my uncle owns a multi million dollar construction company, never graduated from college and grew up just like my mom. had 3 kids by the time he was 25. hes about to build a 3 million dollar house in a few months that he designed himself.
my wife grew up broke as fuck her mom used meth was an alcaholic brought back men and slept with them infront of my wife and her sister. my wife raised her sister from the time she was 3 or 4. she was forced to drop out of school when she was 15 so she could drive her mom to work and work with her mom at a denyys to support her family. she had a 3.8 at the time even with all the shit she was going through. she had to drive her mom because she was either to drunk or to high to do it her self. a few months later her mom quit work and she had my wife do it, she took every single cent she made. i was with her while all this happened. i was there when her parents didnt say 1 word to her for 4 or 5 months at a time. there when her dad threatened to beat the shit out of her till i stepped in front. there when her dad tried to get full custody and put a restraning order aganist me and my family. there when her dad finally gave up ditched them and her mom dropped her off at my parents house one day and said bye im moving to ohio.
my family took her in she stayed there for about a year, till we got married i woke up and got at least a low paying job and we moved into a shitty apartment. that was last year. now i making around 4,000 a month we got a nice 2 bedroom 2 cars my wife finished high school and is starting college at a JC tommarow. is in a nursing program to become an RN, then she is going to work while going to school to become a obgyn. we have a 2 month old healthy and happy baby girl that will have every advantage that she didnt have.
my mom and wife both were fucked from the start and they made it.
i didnt even graduate from high school and im making 4,000 a month legit. i started bussing tables now im waiting tables on the best shit and soon am going to move up into a mangment postion at the casino where i work.
how i got there. worked 70-80 hours a week,
some people give up. my wifes siter who went through the same shit, is in and out of mental hospitals sleeping with and getting pregnate by many different men, and has had a few miscarages that we know of. no school no job no friends no family.
she is the exact opposite of where my wife is.
i belive anyone can do it with out welfair food stamps and other shit. i think they should be around for a few people. but while i worked at vons i saw so many middle class people come through with wic it was ridiculous. id see them drive off in a brand new car. you know what get a 97 and feed your child your self. its bull shit plain and simple. any one can say fuck it i make money but i dont want to pay to feed my child so ill make everyone else do it.
it is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to easy to get shit from the goveremnt. and i feel as long as its this easy and democrats want it to be this easy, people wont become motivated people wont get off there ass and people wont better them selves just for the simple fact of they can get by with doing nothing.
im glad for ya mom and for you and i hope everythings straight with ya life now.
but when i see people with my own eyes do shit them selves and come from nothing to something, without help from the goverment. i cant buy people saying we need this or that.
I agree that democrats are slightly better than the republicans, but not by much.
Well, let's not give clinton too much credit. Whenever Clinton faced a choice between policies favoring Wall Street or main street, in almost every instance, Clinton took the route favored by Wall Street, business executives, and conventional economists.
Remember, Clinton promised to create a universal, national healthcare system. What did he do? His healthcare promise never materialized. In fact, under Clinton, the number of Americans without health insurance rose from 35 to 44 million. Instead of fighting for healthcare, they invested their political capital on a massive campaign to pass NAFTA - a move that was fought by unions and environmentalists but strongly supported by corporations.
Clinton also demolished the welfare safety net, which ended the guarantee of at least some income for the poorest Americans. “The Welfare Reform Act barred immigrants from receiving welfare and cut $24 billion from the federal food-stamp program. Despite this, the logic of "lesser evilism" held back labor leaders and others from building any serious opposition to this vicious attack on the poor.”
Also, remember it was Clinton who carried out an aggressive law and order agenda like never seen before, massively beefing up police and expanding the "war on drugs," doubling the U.S. prison population to two million - more than any other country in the world. “After the Oklahoma City bombing, Clinton pushed through the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act which foreshadowed many of the attacks on immigrant rights and increases in the government's repressive powers in Bush's Patriot Act.”
Well, let's not give clinton too much credit. Whenever Clinton faced a choice between policies favoring Wall Street or main street, in almost every instance, Clinton took the route favored by Wall Street, business executives, and conventional economists.
Remember, Clinton promised to create a universal, national healthcare system. What did he do? His healthcare promise never materialized. In fact, under Clinton, the number of Americans without health insurance rose from 35 to 44 million. Instead of fighting for healthcare, they invested their political capital on a massive campaign to pass NAFTA - a move that was fought by unions and environmentalists but strongly supported by corporations.
Clinton also demolished the welfare safety net, which ended the guarantee of at least some income for the poorest Americans. “The Welfare Reform Act barred immigrants from receiving welfare and cut $24 billion from the federal food-stamp program. Despite this, the logic of "lesser evilism" held back labor leaders and others from building any serious opposition to this vicious attack on the poor.”
Also, remember it was Clinton who carried out an aggressive law and order agenda like never seen before, massively beefing up police and expanding the "war on drugs," doubling the U.S. prison population to two million - more than any other country in the world. “After the Oklahoma City bombing, Clinton pushed through the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act which foreshadowed many of the attacks on immigrant rights and increases in the government's repressive powers in Bush's Patriot Act.”