Rose Colored Glasses Are Sooooo 'Yesterday'

Let me begin by prefacing that George Bush is the single worst president we've had in history. And the GOP controlled Congress sucked waaaayyyy more than the Congress we have now, one that is only by a slim margin, controlled by Democrats. And it goes without saying that every single one of the GOP POTUS candidates have potential to steal Dubya McCodpiece's 'Worst President Ever' mantle. But of course, we Americans should have much higher standards shouldn't we? After all we have The Constitution. But, alas, we Americans also have the world's worst collective case of ADD in recorded history.

I just want everyone out there to take a sober look back to the Clinton era without their rose-colored glasses. The best way to do that is to read this piece from Alternet by David Morris. Here's the link: http://www.alternet.org/story/72336/. I know you don't want to read it kids, but please do not ignore it. It's not slime, it's not about Monica, it's the facts.

Bill Clinton's Administration did not operate as a Democratic administration and they were not in the least bit progressive. For instance, 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' was hardly the mark of anyone you could call progressive. It was gutless, ridiculously condescending to the gay men and women in uniform and in the long run hurt them more. If they were asked under orders they had to tell and then well, they were out of the military. The policy sanctioned discrimination, the only thing that can keep a gay American from being discharged from the military is if their superior decides not to ask them if they are gay. Could any of you out there imagine that your employment rode on the question of who you love? Could you imagine going to work everyday fearing your boss would ask that question? I know as a straight person I could not and when I put myself into their shoes it's beyond maddening to imagine it happening to me.

The Clinton Administration had as much contempt for the New Deal and Great Society as any Republican. Legislation that the first Bush or Reagan could have only dreamed of passing became reality under Clinton: NAFTA, The T-Com Act of '96, deregulation run amok, the rise of Enron, and Welfare Reform that recreated the 19th century class of the perpetually poor.

I have always been fond of saying (just ask Mr. Drinking Liberally for verification) that 'Bill Clinton was the best Republican President we ever had'. And I'll be damned if I do not get horrified gasps from Democrats, 'How dare you!...We...we...had a surplus! He was the first black president!' Sigh....what I wouldn't do for a drug from Merck that would jog their memories of that time. JUST KIDDING YA'LL! Merck is evil, to be honest so is every pharma company..if they weren't I wouldn't have to spend ten minutes a day deleting drug spam from my inbox.!

Anyway, when an administration enacts crappy policy it can take years to affect the population. Normally we have that yin/yang thing going and the succeeding administration pulls the country back. But no. In 2000, we got Dubya McCheney'sbitch who took the crappy policy-ball all the way into the endzone and then some.

So let's look at what we are dealing with a decade after the Clintonian promises that technology would solve all of our manufacturing loss woes, that deregulation serves the consumer not the CEO and Friedmanesque trade deals lift the third world out of poverty while guaranteeing the greedy American consumer low, low prices: under-employment, a stock-market that's all over the place, global sweatshop labor, rich getting richer, poor getting poorer, the middle-class tanking, unregulated industries soaking consumers with no accountability, Mexicans leaving their families to find work up north, foreclosures, unions battling for their lives as well as workers rights, corporate influence in every piece of legislation enacted, a pathetically biased media, etc...etc. Dubya in his wildest dreams could not have created this, he had help. He had Bill.

There was a time when I too wore the rose-colored glasses when looking back at the 90s when Clinton was president. Especially back in 2003 when Bush decided that America was entitled to attack any nation that just gave him the heebie-jeebies and Congress agreed. But over the course of the last four years I've really educated myself on our history, the state of our nation and what liberalism and progressivism means. And I found those rose-colored glasses no longer fit my need to see the truth.

My question to all of you Liberal Drinkers is...do you really want real change in this nation? Do you really want to trade rose-colored glasses for a stronger prescription that is difficult to deal with at first but you'll get used to, be glad you tried and will realize the future will be brighter as a result. That you do not want this change only for yourself but for your kids, your nieces, nephews, grandkids, your friends and their loved ones...for those who we leave behind here after we're gone. If so, you'll ask all of the POTUS candidates to rebuke the collude and compromise strategy of the DLC Democrats who fear liberals and progressives. You'll stand up for liberalism and progressivism. And you'll realize that if we want the future to be bright, we gotta lose the shades.