How did we get here?

Passions have run very high as of late when it comes to the current debate surrounding the democratic nomination. People on both sides of the fence (both of which have very green grass mind you) are solidly behind their candidates. I think that is great. This is one of the most exciting and monumental elections amongst the many earth-rattling elections that have come within anyone’s lifetimes. Sometimes, the rhetoric has gone out of hand. Passion has a way of doing that. I will admit that I too have succumbed to these passions.

One thing we can all agree on is that the past 8 years have been the most damaging, divided and darkest times in our nation’s history. The ramifications of what was begun in these eight years will take decades to be fully realized and undone. The fabric of our democracy was forever been tainted. The election of 2000 set the definitive course of change in our nation that began even back in the 80’s. Yes, as far back as Reagan’s time as president, the nation started to be severely divided. Trickle down economics forced a deep wedge between the haves and the have-nots. The one thing that prevented a complete divide in our people was Reagan’s ability to communicate and bring people together to swallow the bitter pill of his policies. I was only a child in the 80’s but I have read quite a bit about that period and know that this “great communicator” was able to at least bring people from the other side of the isle and the nation, the Reagan Democrats, under his wing to lead the nations. Unfortunately, the policies the brought the nation together behind, were very damaging and were the very pathway to the greater divide that plagues our country to this very day. He ignored the AIDS crisis, began the coalescing of the Religious Right movement and lead secret dirty deals, such as the Iran Contra debacle that harked back to the underhanded madness of the Nixon era, but that’s a whole other story. Things of course did not improve under his successor, George H.W. Bush. The divide continued, but fortunately, he was not in office but one term.

Then, came Bill Clinton’s fresh face onto the scene. He and his wife set into motion a lot of great changes in direction. The economy boomed, crime decreased, and things started to feel better. However, the divide within our nation did not heal. In fact, the partisan divide became a chasm. As much good as they did, they could have accomplished even more, had partisan politics not guided their every move. Yes, they had good intentions and produced some good results, but things were not as idealistic once you look back. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement was one of Bill Clinton’s first accomplishments in office. It sounded good on one level, but it has since cost our country a lot of jobs and has devastated the agricultural economy of Mexico. Mexico’s poor have become poorer and the rich have become FLITHY rich. It’s no wonder many of my people come across the border illegally to be able to feed their families. Mexican’s have come to the US long before NAFTA, but this misguided treaty has only made things worse there as well as in the states. Also adding to the woes of our struggling poor in the United States was the Clinton administration’s overhaul of the welfare system. Under the enacted changes, no one could receive more than 5 years of consecutive or nonconsecutive welfare aid and access to it was more difficult. Many of the provisions to welfare reform were arbitrary and did not take into consideration the lives of the real people who would need this assistance. Working in schools on the east side of Austin with predominantly economically disadvantaged families, I see firsthand the struggles many of these people are faced with. There are some who are able to pull themselves out of dire poverty onto the lower rungs of economic stability, but there are many many others who work two and three jobs, take ESL classes, and try everything they can to better themselves but cannot get ahead. I’ve worked with children from kindergarten until they leave for middle school after their 5th grade year, and their families are in the same situation that they were when I first met them five years prior. I often wonder what will become of these families after their fifth year on welfare assistance is up. Many students have parents who cannot help them with their homework because they work several jobs (some as many as four) just to be able to feed the family. Others cannot help their children with homework because they cannot read themselves. We all do what we can, but the system is not set up to deal with the real-world situations that exist.

Bill Clinton was the first president to acknowledge and listen to the LGBT community. I think he is owed a lot of credit for that. However, he passed two extremely damaging pieces of legislation as far as that community is concerned. One of his first acts as president was to pass the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for the military. In essence it says that “There’s nothing wrong with being gay, just keep it a secret or you’ll be kicked out.” This was a huge slap in the face of the LGBT community who had finally thought they had a president who respected them. Then came DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as being between a man and woman, ONLY! I don’t think a president should ever support any act, legislation or policy that marginalizes or discriminates against a group of people. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what he did.

I think the most dangerous seed that was planted during the Clinton years, though was the increased polarization of the American electorate. There should have NEVER been a George W. Bush presidency. The 2000 election should never have been as close as it was. Yes, politics have always divided people. However, we are all Americans and should not see each other as enemies no matter how much we disagree on the issues. There are some things that should never be compromised, but we must realize that our language and the way we speak to and about each other defines who are as a people. It decides if and how things are done, especially in the current divided mindset within which we live. The harder we push, the harder they will push back.

There are many other things that have occurred between Reagan’s time in office until now. And at this point, I could write pages and pages about the horrors and denigration that our democracy has suffered through during the time George W. Bush took the reigns as president. There are volumes of writings out there that discuss the damage our standing in the world has suffered under his command particularly since we are still experiencing this dark time in history firsthand. For a mini sampling of the what damage has been done feel free to depress yourself reading here. It only goes up to the end of his first term, but you see the disasterous pattern. If anyone can find a more comprehensive timeline of his administration, please tell me about it so I can include it.

It is now almost March of 2008. We stand at the precipice of hopefully a new direction in our history as a nation. First of all, we have two strong candidates vying for the democratic nomination. Yes, one is a woman and the other an African American. That is significant, but not what’s wholly great about them. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both very intelligent and capable legislators who both have a history of working for the American people, and they are strong candidates for winning the Whitehouse in November. After much research, reading, listening, and thinking I however feel that Barack Obama is the stronger of the two on many levels.