James Miller Center: President Bill Clinton- 1994 State of The Union Address: Health Care Reform

Source: James Miller Center- President William J. Clinton: 1994 speech to a joint session of Congress on health care reform.

"President Clinton applauds the successes in breaking gridlock, cutting the deficit, and passing the Brady law. He hopes to further reduce the budget; to update unemployment, welfare, and health care; and to support democracy throughout the world."

From James Miller Center

I'll give President Clinton a lot of credit for having the guts to take on health care reform, Welfare reform, crime, deficit reduction and free trade, all in his first two years as President. As well as Family Medical Leave and even gays in the military, before a lot of these issues were popular. He wasn't the first President to take on these issues, but perhaps the first to do them all around the same time. He could've easily of taken the safe route as President and gone with the status quo. Perhaps just concentrating on a few issues and cruised to reelection with an improving economy. But Bill Clinton was a Liberal Democrat and a Progressive and the status quo didn't impress him very much. And he also had a Democratic Congress to work with. So I'm guessing he was thinking this might be his best shot to accomplish what he wanted to reform. And if you look at his batting average as far as what he wanted to accomplish in his first two years as President, he got a lot done.

As far what President Clinton tried to push through Congress and what he got out of Congress, it's a pretty good record as far as modern times as well as historically. It's just health care reform and Welfare reform, that he was unsuccessful in pushing through Congress in his first two years which was a mammoth failure. And one of the main reasons why Democrats lost control of both chambers of Congress in the 1994 mid-terms. Bill Clinton even wanted to work with the Republican minority in Congress in both Chambers. But other than trade, the Republican Leadership made sure that never happened. Why did health care Reform fail in 1994, well several reasons. I'll give President Clinton credit for having the political guts to at least write a health care reform plan and sending it to Congress, unlike President Obama. I believe President Clinton had a very good idea what he wanted to do in health care reform.

I believe President Clinton's ideas was to have  a system thats built on freedom of choice in health care, where all Americans would decide for themselves where they would get their health insurance and health care through the private sector and help the people who can't afford health insurance on their own, purchase health insurance. As well as small business's who want to provide health insurance to their employees, but can't afford to pay for it. As well as having a Patients Bill of Rights in his legislation. If you look at what President Clinton attempted to pass and what President Obama finally got out of Congress in 2010 the Affordable Care Act, it's very similar. Just that 111th Democratic Congress as well as President Obama understood the mistakes of President Clinton and the 103rd Democratic Congress. Because a lot of them served in both Congress's and new not to repeat them. As much as Congressional Republicans claimed the Clinton health care plan was Canadian or British style "socialized medicine".

Where the Federal Government would take over at least health insurance in America if not health care in general. As brilliantly as they communicated that with their communication and advertising and their members expressing that in committee, or on the House and Senate floors, it wasn't. It was a brilliant con job on the GOP part, that they took to winning control on Congress in 1994. Also as sound as President Clinton's plan was in the beginning, he made it more complicated than it had to be. Thinking that he needed to please as many people as possible to get a health care bill out of Congress and made the bill so big at the end, that no one understood it. I'll give President and the 103rd Democratic Congress a lot of credit for what they set out to accomplish and did accomplish in 1993-94. But they failed to communicate it to the American people and paid a heavy price for that. That as a party were still paying for today, because the Republican Party won the communications war. And Democrats are still dealing with those stereotypes today. Of tax and spend and socialized medicine today.

The Associated Press: 'Raw Video: Fidel Castro Makes Surprise Showing'

Source:The Associated Press- Cuban Communist leader Fidel Castro in public.

"Fidel Castro made a surprise appearance at a Communist Party Congress in the Cuban capital of Havana Tuesday, earning a thunderous applause from the crowd. (April 19)"

From the Associated Press

With Fidel Castro making it official that he's no longer President of Cuba and in charged of the Communist Republic that he built with his brother Raul being President and running that government for that last few years, Cuba is finally ready to move forward as a country become a member of the Americas and the 21st Century and move forward. 

If you look at Cuba it's a very rich country as far as resources and potential and its society. Two things that the Castro Regime had actually done well in Cuba, was with its education and health system. They are very well-educated and get the health care that they need. The problems with Cuban economy is that there aren't enough good jobs for a lot of the workers who have the skills to get good jobs, because Cuba's Marxist-Communist, state-owned, command and control socialist economy. 

Cuba did have a Marxist-Communist economy where the State owns the means of production in the society. Meaning the economy and all of the business's and industries. Even including small business's, which the Cuban people are more than capable of running as well as big business's in Cuba. But one thing that President Raul Castro has recognized is that Cuba's command and control economy doesn't work and hasn't worked for a long time. And has moved to privatize small business's like restaurants and hotels as well as the agriculture sector. Which the Cuban people will benefit from. 

But they need to take other steps especially when it comes with social policy, which President Castro has already announced with term limits for the Presidency, for Cuba to ever have an official relationship with America again. I'm in favor of America once again opening up diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba, as long as its done under certain circumstances. 

One, that Cuba stops arresting non-violent political protesters. 

Two, that they release all non-violent political protesters from custody. 

Three, that they move to privatize a lot of their economy, so the Cuban people benefits from whatever benefit comes from an American-Cuban trade agreement. So that the Cuban Regime just doesn't pocket most of the revenue instead. 

Four, that Cuba stop heavily taxing all money that comes into Cuba from Cuban America to their low- income relatives. 

Five, that Cuba allows free and open travel for its citizens, so they don't have to try to escape their country just to go to Florida or Dominican or Bahamas. That the Cuban Regime allows its own citizens to move as freely around Cuba, as they allow their tourists. 

If Cuba were to do these things then it would no longer make any sense for us to isolate a country thats clearly not a threat to us. Especially when we are currently have economic and diplomatic relations with another Communist Republic, the People's Republic of China, which is clearly a competitor with us. 

I would like to see Cuba make other reforms to its country like, open and free multi-party elections. Allow private media in the country including foreign media. As well as freedom of assembly and protest and religion. But again we already have economic and diplomatic relations with other authoritarian republics that work with us. So we shouldn't hold Cuba to another standard for us to have a relationship with them.