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Democrats
Should Put the Enron Scandal on the Backburner
January
17, 2002
by kentuck
Like a rowdy bunch of black-hatted outlaws, the Republicans
are on the run. The Hole-in-the-Enron Gang want to blame the
fraudulent corporate failure on the Democrats. "If it was
so bad, why didn't Clinton do anything about it?" they
ask. To borrow their ill-advised caricature, "that dog won't
hunt." Furthermore, it won't even get off the porch.
The Democrats should head them off at the pass. They should
put the Enron scandal on the back burner for the time being.
Let the Republicans wallow in their defensive paranoia. It
is going to take a spell to hunt down all the culprits. But
the important matters have been made abundantly clear by this
government-enabled daylight robbery.
It is now obvious to most everyone that something needs to
be done about the influence of corporate soft money in our
political processes. Let the Republicans point fingers - and
rant and rave about Bill Clinton - all they want. We should
be very aggressive in passing Campaign Finance Reform at this
important time. Let them dare to challenge the need for such
legislation.
Also, we should put to rest, once and for all, their impassioned
and greedy efforts to "privatize" our Social Security system.
Need we see more proof to know that we, the taxpayers, would
end up paying twice for these benefits? How many retirees
would be successful in their investments and how many would
invest in Enron-type stocks?
If there are to be reforms, it cannot be left up to the individual
to make that decision. However "undemocratic" that may sound,
we know that the latter-day robber barons would steal them
blind and take their hard-earned retirement dollars to some
secret stash in the Caribbean. We must act in a "democratic"
fashion to protect these funds so retirees can continue to
avoid poverty in their later years.
The Enron scandal is not going to disappear in the very near
future. Democrats should look at this time as a golden opportunity
to make the reforms necessary to protect our democratic processes
and our Social Security system. Let the paranoids run wild.
We will take care of business. The people deserve no less.
As soon as we make the necessary reforms, we can return to
the Enron scandal. It isn't going away.
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