How Vast the Conspiracy?

The PBS feature on President Clinton brought back memories of the not-so-long ago.
They included a lot of restless fidgeting. Those were disconcerting times, and if one
were looking for tranquility after the Nixon spectacle, the hostage-holding in Iran, theIran-Contra fiasco, and the first Iraq war, the election of a new president brought no relief. during the Clinton years. The fidgeting quickly resumed.

Soon after the swearing in, discomfort came from the barely disguised Republican
strategy of obstruction by distraction.

The Reeps fine-toothed Arkansas for any transgression, real or rumored, that might
be blown up into something actionable. The Clintons obliged by leaving just enough
crumbs to trail. A tsunami of allegations boiled up. Early in the first term, in the hope
of putting the matter to rest, Mr. Clinton directed Attorney General Janet Reno toto appoint an Independent Counsel.

Special prosecutors and Independent Counsels had not much luck in previous
Republican administrations. Nixon, just short of impeachment, fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Lawrence Walsh, Independent Counsel in the Iran-Contra affair was stone-walled by both Reagan and Bush I, despite having proven violations of the law and perjured testimony from officials in both administrations.

Attorney General Reno's first appointee, Robert B. Fiske, came up with nothing and retired. His successor, Kenneth W. Starr also came up empty, but persevered. He finally scored through no efforts of his own, but only because of President Clinton's immature and outrageous sexual dalliance with the White House intern, Monica Lewinski.

Based on Starr's findings, Republicans succeeded in bringing impeachment proceedings against a president for only the second time in history. The Senate failed to convict.

Also early in the Clinton Administration, Mrs. Clinton protested the harassment of the President and herself, attributing it to a "vast right-wing conspiracy." Later events certainly gave credence to her charge.

Ever since Richard Nixon was forced to resign his office, one jump ahead of impeachment, his party's strategy has been to obstruct. It's easy to imagine this policy was dictated to his successors in the right wing of the Republican Party by the epitome of paranoia himself, and there is little doubt that avenging Nixon was a major motivation in leveling the supreme act of obstruction, impeachment, at Clinton.

Despite himself, and all the Republican blunt instruments,Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. He recorded budget surpluses in each of his last three years in office. Last month, in a Gallup Poll listing the nine most recent presidents, 60% of respondents rated Clinton as Outstanding/above average.

Meanwhile, the Republicans have continued and expanded their obstruction strategy. Winning the House of Representatives in 2010 meant that voters in more states had fallen prey to the false allure of no new taxes, the results of which brought budget deficits to states across the country. Governments refer to them as deficits. In the real world they are known as bankruptcies.

Republicans wishfully think that reducing government services will reduce and ultimately erase budget deficits. They are less than coherent about what they see happening after that. They have already shredded the social contract assembled under Franklin D. Roosevelt that lasted until the last quarter of the 20th Century.

The union movement, which enabled people to buy things has been chopped without remorse to about 8% of the work force. Two of the strongest unions still standing, the teachers', and government employees', are under constant attack.

The appointed portion of the judicial system, including, regrettably, the Supreme Court, has been packed with right wingers whose decision on the Citizens' United vs. The Federal Elections Commission has put the elective process on sale.

Two vital government agencies, the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission were severely compromised by the simple means of under-funding. With repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act, the giants of the banking industry have been unleashed, to the detriment of the industry's smaller segment, and, disastrously, to the public.

The National Security Council remains veiled in secrecy. The CIA has never seen a war it has been able to predict, but goes blithely about the world running up tabs that nobody apparently adds up. The number of federally sponsored police and security forces, if known, is never discussed, although the strictures imposed by the wretchedly named Department of Homeland Security impact every American. The burgeoning prison population is in the process of being turned over to private operators, as a cost saving measure. The costs saved will be paid by the inmates
and perhaps will have the effect of reducing the prison population. The gun lobby is happily persuading Republican-controlled state governments to enact shoot first laws. The shade of super patriot John Wayne must be smiling.

Unemployment is stated to be 8 - 8 1/2 per cent. It's said that the rate is more than double that, if you count people who have been out of work so long they've stopped applying. Most of the long-time unemployed are 50 and over. What do you suppose their prospects are?

The rate of inflation in 2011 was 3.2 %. That's a phony figure, however, because the Consumer Price Index does not include the price of food or fuel, both of which are used by most people more or less regularly. And you don't have to be a constant watcher of the CPI to know the prices of food and fuel are going north at a rather alarming rate, along with prices of health care, transportation, clothing, and rent.

All told, consumer spending on the basics, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and health care, plus everything else we spend money on, amounts to roughly 70% of GDP, the gross domestic product, which consists of total output of all goods and services.

Now, and you probably saw this coming, how will we be able to maintain the bulk of GDP, the economy, with perhaps 17% unemployment and another huge slug of people who are under-employed? And with inflation rising? How can people spend if they can't earn? Beyond "letting the market work," have right wing Republican obstructionists any answers?

If they have, they aren't saying.