Clinton said the 1996 elections w ere a vindication of “the vital
center,” w hich he locates somew here betw een “overheated
liberalism and chilly conservatism.” W hat w as your reading of these
elections?
Was there any choice other than “the vital center”? Clinton and
Dole behaved slightly differently, and had somew hat different
constituencies, but both w ere moderate Republicans, old-time
government insiders and more or less interchangeable
representatives of the business community.
I think the election w as a vote against the vital center. Both
candidates w ere unpopular and very few people expected anything
from either one of them. Voter turnout w as 49%—as low as it’s
ever been—and I think that reflected the general feeling that the
political system isn’t functioning.
I thought the turnout w as the low est since 1924.
1924 is misleading, because it w as the first year w omen w ere
allow ed to vote. A smaller percentage of the electorate voted simply
because a lot of w omen w eren’t used to voting and didn’t do it the
first time around. If you take that into account, 1996 may have been
the low est voter turnout ever.
T he 1996 campaign also cost the most ever—$1.6 billion that w e
know about. More and more money is being spent, and few er and
few er people are voting.
As one of the television commentators pointed out, these
w eren’t conventions—they w ere coronations. It’s just another step
tow ards eliminating w hatever functioning elements remain in formal
democracy, and is all part of the general business attack on freedom,
markets and democracy.
Compare Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere. T he
creation of a vibrant, lively, independent civil society there during
the last few years has been remarkable, and w as the basis for a
remarkable triumph of democracy (w hich w as extinguished very
quickly and brutally w ith U S help, and in a w ay that bars its revival).
If there w ere an independent intelligentsia in the U S, they’d be
falling off their chairs laughing at the idea that w e have something to
teach Haiti about democracy. Civil society is collapsing here. We