Bill Clinton and the Two Nations

The congressional election is now mercifully over and the daily barrage of negative ads a dimming memory. But it should be remembered that in a rational political system there would have been much to discuss this year. In the summer and autumn the Asian economic crisis almost became a world crisis. The causes and remedies of Asia’s shocking drop in living standards, its continuing effects in countries such as Indonesia, and the threat it still poses to the rest of the world are critically important political topics. In its October adjournment frenzy Congress appropriated $18 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help avert future economic collapses in countries deemed to be in difficulty. But virtually no candidate of either major party so much as mentioned the furious controversy over how best to deal with these rolling crises of world capitalism. On September 25, the New York Times reported that 43.4 million Americans still lack health insurance after six years of prosperity—and the number is increasing. Democratic candidates occasionally talked about a “patient’s bill of rights” but ignored those without sufficient money to attain the status of “patients.” Senate Republicans smothered the campaign-spending reform bill, which had passed the House as the consequence of a stunning and unexpected bipartisan rebellion against our system of legalized bribery in the form of campaign contributions. However, other than taking account of the drama of S...