Bill Clinton on Government Reform President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)

1993: Proposed (and failed at) campaign finance reform

Proposals by President Clinton not passed by Congress:
• Health care reform
• Campaign finance reform (1993)

Presidential Initiatives
• Tried to get Ehud Barak of Israel and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian National Authority, to agree to a final settlement agreement.
• Initiated the Don't ask, don't tell policy toward gays in the military, 1993.
• Reversed a ban on senior Sinn F‚in politicians entering the U.S.
• Proposed a national challenge to end the racial divide in America, the One America Initiative.
• Extraordinary rendition got approval for the first time in the USA from the Clinton administration.

President Clinton's Supreme Court appointments
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 1993
• Stephen Breyer - 1994

Presidential pardon is absolute right; all Presidents use it

On January 20, 2001, I granted 140 pardons and issued 36 commutations. During my Presidency, I issued a total of approximately 450 pardons and commutations, compared to 406 issued by President Reagan during his two terms. During his four years, President Carter issued 566 pardons and commutations, while in the same length of time President Bush granted 77. President Ford issued 409 during the slightly more than two years he was President.

Big Government is over; but government has a role

Our administration and the new Democratic party take a different view. We say the era of big government is over, but we must not go back to an era of “every man for himself.”

The truth is, Americans don’t want our government gutted. We know from experience that there are some things that government must or should do: protect us against enemies, foreign and domestic, come to our aid when disaster strikes, help fight crime, ensure the health and well-being of the weakest among us, restore and preserve the environment, ensure the safety of our food, provide for the needs of those who have defended our country in uniform, provide everyone with access to quality education.

We don’t want our government in our face, but we do want it on our side when we need it, and quickly.

Voluntary public financing for all general elections.

Return Politics to the People
At a time when much of the world is emulating American values and institutions, too many Americans have lost confidence in their political system. They are turned off by a partisan debate that often seems to revolve not around opposing philosophies but around contending sets of interest groups. They believe that our current system for financing campaigns gives disproportionate power to wealthy individuals and groups and exerts too much influence over legislative and regulatory outcomes.

The time for piecemeal reform is past. As campaign costs soar at every level, we need to move toward voluntary public financing of all general elections and press broadcasters to donate television time to candidates.

The Internet holds tremendous potential for making campaigns less expensive and more edifying and for engaging Americans directly in electoral politics. We should promote the Internet as a new vehicle for political communication and champion online voting.

Goals for 2010
• Introduce voluntary public financing for all general elections.
• Allow properly regulated voter registration and voting online.
• Implement civic education courses in every public school.