Clinton added:
"That's why we need a new approach to government ... More choices for young people in the schools they attend ... And more choices for the elderly and for people with disabilities and the long-term care they receive. A government that is leaner, not meaner; a government that expands opportunity, not bureaucracy; a government that understands that jobs must come from growth in a vibrant and vital system of free enterprise."
At a minimum, Clinton was calling for the partial privatization of both Social Security, which serves the elderly and disabled, and children, through a system of charter schools and vouchers. He was suggesting that both Medicare and Social Security are run by "failed bureaucracies."
Talk Into ActionClinton signed the Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act of 1998, which the nonpartisan magazine Government Executive accurately characterized as a "privatization bill." Under the FAIR Act, federal agencies must list their activities every year and say whether they are "inherently governmental" or could be performed by a private company.
According to many reports, Clinton also tried to follow through on his acceptance speech by cutting a deal with House Speaker Newt Gingrich that would have cut Social Security by raising the retirement age and partially privatized the program through a system of private retirement accounts.
As US News and World Report notes, "Clinton realized that he could not undertake this without bipartisan support, and, Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles reflected, 'He knew to do this he needed to work with Gingrich.'"
As US News reports, Clinton knew the plan would be "controversial" and was willing to take the "political heat" in return for a deal with Gingrich.
A Private PartyClinton's deal with Gingrich died with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but the centrist Democratic zeal for "bipartisan" privatization did not. Barack Obama appointed Bowles, who served as an intermediary with Gingrich on the Social Security deal, to co-chair a commission tasked with reducing the federal deficit and cutting Social Security. (The two tasks are separate from one another, since Social Security is required by law to be self-supporting. It cannot contribute to the federal deficit.)
In announcing his privatization scheme with Cuomo, Christie warned that Penn Station's commuters are about to enter a "summer of hell." They almost certainly are, thanks to our leaders' "bipartisan" reluctance to invest in needed government infrastructure.
The Democratic infatuation with privatization hurts the party, harms the public interest, and diminishes the public's understanding of government's vital role in American life. It must be resisted by independent activists and progressive Democrats alike.
It would be tragic if a "summer of hell" for New York commuters led to a lifetime of servitude to corporate interests. It would be even worse if Democrats like Andrew Cuomo helped make it happen.
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