We all know this, but it's good to see all the incidents catalogued. Comes in handy when your liberal acquaintances sniff,
"Well, that's just your opinion".
http://orlandosentinel.com/automagic/columnists/2000-08-08/OPEDreese08a080800.html
Book details the long, national nightmare of the Clinton years
Charley Reese
Commentary
If you are into scary books, or horror stories, put aside Stephen King and try James Bovard.
His newest book, Feeling Your Pain -- The explosion and abuse of government power in the Clinton-Gore years, is a scary book.
Published by St. Martin's press, the book -- in a calm, judicious non-ideological manner -- lays out the crimes against liberty, the abuse of due process, the deceptions and intimidations that the government under William Jefferson Clinton has practiced against the American people.
It's scary because it's true.
I think the majority of Americans, conservative or liberal, wants to believe in and to trust the government. It is, after all, our government, and we are taught from childhood that its purpose is to protect and serve. I certainly am in that category.
Perhaps that's what is so disconcerting about Bovard's book. If he were a right-wing opinion writer, we could brush it off; if he were just another Clinton hater stringing together old allegations and innuendoes, we could discount it. But Bovard is that rarity in today's journalism--an objective, disinterested reporter. A digger of facts, a revealer of sources. Unlike Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, who writes books based on anonymous sources, Bovard does not say, "Trust me." He says see the footnote for the record or the source.
A government, with its huge power and enormous resources, presents a fightening spectre when it is directed by corrupt people to do harm to innocent people. Sadly, Bovard catalogues examples of the government destroying lives, depriving people of their liberty, obliterating their businesses, confiscating their property despite the fact they were innocent of any wrongdoing. While the Washington press made much of Richard Nixon's enemies list, Nixon was an altar boy compared to Clinton and to the constant stream of malice that flows out of the Clinton-Gore administration.
It's clear that not only will the White House need a thorough disinfecting, the Justice Department is going to need a top-to-bottom cleaning out. I doubt if ever in American history has there been a Justice Department more contemptuous of the Constitution and of the rights of American citizens than Janet Reno's.
The point of the book is not to indict Clinton per se but to lay out the case against government abuse.
I will indict Clinton. Everything in government starts at the top and flows downhill. If you have a morally disadvantaged president elected by a morally disadvantaged campaign staff, you will have a morally disadvantaged administration of morally disadvantaged appointees who will corrupt their own departments.
Character counts more than anything else in a public official. Positions on issues can be constructed out of expediency. Intelligence can be directed to do evil as can charm and charisma.
The basic mistake the American people made was to believe that if the economy was good (or at least if they were told incessantly that it was good) that morality and character didn't matter.
This book shows in terrible detail exactly what the evil results of that mistake are.
Americans should never forget that when we elect a man or woman to public office, especially the presidency, we are entrusting that person with tremendous power. The only protection we have against abuse of that power is largely the person's integrity.
If there is no integrity, then there's big trouble in River City.
One lie should be a permanent disqualifier for anyone seeking public office. Bovard's book is a reminder of what's at stake in an election.
© 2000 orlandosentinel.com
"Well, that's just your opinion".
http://orlandosentinel.com/automagic/columnists/2000-08-08/OPEDreese08a080800.html
Book details the long, national nightmare of the Clinton years
Charley Reese
Commentary
If you are into scary books, or horror stories, put aside Stephen King and try James Bovard.
His newest book, Feeling Your Pain -- The explosion and abuse of government power in the Clinton-Gore years, is a scary book.
Published by St. Martin's press, the book -- in a calm, judicious non-ideological manner -- lays out the crimes against liberty, the abuse of due process, the deceptions and intimidations that the government under William Jefferson Clinton has practiced against the American people.
It's scary because it's true.
I think the majority of Americans, conservative or liberal, wants to believe in and to trust the government. It is, after all, our government, and we are taught from childhood that its purpose is to protect and serve. I certainly am in that category.
Perhaps that's what is so disconcerting about Bovard's book. If he were a right-wing opinion writer, we could brush it off; if he were just another Clinton hater stringing together old allegations and innuendoes, we could discount it. But Bovard is that rarity in today's journalism--an objective, disinterested reporter. A digger of facts, a revealer of sources. Unlike Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, who writes books based on anonymous sources, Bovard does not say, "Trust me." He says see the footnote for the record or the source.
A government, with its huge power and enormous resources, presents a fightening spectre when it is directed by corrupt people to do harm to innocent people. Sadly, Bovard catalogues examples of the government destroying lives, depriving people of their liberty, obliterating their businesses, confiscating their property despite the fact they were innocent of any wrongdoing. While the Washington press made much of Richard Nixon's enemies list, Nixon was an altar boy compared to Clinton and to the constant stream of malice that flows out of the Clinton-Gore administration.
It's clear that not only will the White House need a thorough disinfecting, the Justice Department is going to need a top-to-bottom cleaning out. I doubt if ever in American history has there been a Justice Department more contemptuous of the Constitution and of the rights of American citizens than Janet Reno's.
The point of the book is not to indict Clinton per se but to lay out the case against government abuse.
I will indict Clinton. Everything in government starts at the top and flows downhill. If you have a morally disadvantaged president elected by a morally disadvantaged campaign staff, you will have a morally disadvantaged administration of morally disadvantaged appointees who will corrupt their own departments.
Character counts more than anything else in a public official. Positions on issues can be constructed out of expediency. Intelligence can be directed to do evil as can charm and charisma.
The basic mistake the American people made was to believe that if the economy was good (or at least if they were told incessantly that it was good) that morality and character didn't matter.
This book shows in terrible detail exactly what the evil results of that mistake are.
Americans should never forget that when we elect a man or woman to public office, especially the presidency, we are entrusting that person with tremendous power. The only protection we have against abuse of that power is largely the person's integrity.
If there is no integrity, then there's big trouble in River City.
One lie should be a permanent disqualifier for anyone seeking public office. Bovard's book is a reminder of what's at stake in an election.
© 2000 orlandosentinel.com