Clinton and the China Scandals: Why we don't care

I.M. Slack

 
    I have been following the whole Clinton campaign finance/nuclear espionage Chinagate Debacle closely and with great interest. For the first few weeks I kept thinking why isn't this a bigger deal? This is real, THIS is impeachable I just couldn't understand why my fellow Americans were not up in arms about this: A sitting president taking questionable campaign contributions from a foreign power while allegations swirl of nuclear espionage from that same foriegn power. If that isn't bad enough it appears that William Jefferson Clinton's administration has dragged it's feet in the investigation of this, the most serious type of spying, as well as once again trying to sell semantics to the public - Espionage is a legal term, I was speaking in a legal sense when I said the was no espionage on my watch. Yea right Bill, your speaking to the world here, not trying to convince your wife you're faithful.
 
    And I think this is one of the problems. The country is so scandal weary from all the post-Monica nonsense that they are too burnt out to care about this scandal which is much more important and potentially disastrous. Think about it, which is more frightening : Your president making out with a young intern in the White House, or Bejing targeting modern nuclear war heads at multiple U.S. cities? In fact I would take it one step further, I think Ms. Lewinsky may have saved the presidents job! The republicans looked so ridiculous in the Monica impeachment deal, that they had no heart to go after Bill in a unified and united front in regard to this very real China calamity. NBC's Tim Russert has been going after the truth and the administration harder than the republicans, no matter how far the republicans have their collective tails between their legs it is a travesty that they have not demanded a full accounting from the Clinton administration about all the factors in the China syndrome.
 
    Seems to me there is way to much emphasis on normalizing relations with China. Our trade deficit is severely out of balance with them and they still are an oppressive and brutal government. But past trade and human rights I fear a more guileful dilemma with the Chinese. If you look back at our recent history, there may be a similarity between pre-WW2 Japan's relationship with the U.S. and the present China/U.S. relationship. Back then, Japan was happy to trade with us, buy our metals and turn them into bullets to be used later to kill American G.I.'s. Similarly I see China in a role not unlike pre war Japan. Trade with us along as it is advantageous, steal from us wherever possible, play at diplomacy, but keep in mind the U.S. is the future potential enemy.
 
    I don't find it surprising that Bill Clinton has been able to bring us back to the brink of another cold war with yet another communist country. (Not to mention his Kosovo policies helping to revive cold far feeling with once ( and future? ) red Russia.) Clinton has proven again and again that he is far more concerned with Bill Clinton that he is with Joe Public, his action show that the I feel your pain is B.S. Mr. Clinton's lack of foreign policy and desire for his own power and influence is inflicting future generations of Americans with a world that is a little less stable than the one he found when he took office.
 
    I would hope that this whole affair would make taking campaign contributions from foreign generals a thing of the past. I would hope that we will re-evaluate our security measures at Los Alamos and other sensitive facilities. I hope that we are wise enough in the future to elect leaders that are more interested in We the People than in their own power. I hope that we as a nation take a good, hard look at our relations with China - not just in trade - but in a strategic, global sense that looks after America and Americans first. I hope that we can, as a country, look past president Clinton's plea today for Most Favored Nation Status for China ( on the 10th anniversery of the Tiananmen Square Massacre to add insult to injury ) and call for our goverment to do what is right for the United States, not what is good for China and for Bill.
 
I.M. Slack