4 Questions for Candidate Clinton

4 U.S. Presidents. Former President Jimmy Carter (right), walks with, from left, George H.W. Bush (far left), George W. Bush (second from left) and Bill Clinton (center) during the dedication of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, November 18, 2004 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marc Ash | Reader Supported News | July 29, 2013

American Interaction with the World

We have come to a point where American world economic policy and US global military strategy are as indistinguishable as they are interdependent. Your tenure as Secretary of State gave little reason for optimism that you would as president seek to forge a new path. Do you foresee a day when American productivity and ingenuity will reclaim their rightful place and US interaction with the world community cease to be conducted under threat of lethal conflict?

A Rebirth of Democracy

Former President Jimmy Carter said recently, “America has no functioning democracy.” Recent revelations by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden leave little doubt that Carter’s view was trenchant, perhaps even understated. At issue is the power of the American security-industrial complex. As president would you – or perhaps more important, could you – return control of the US national security apparatus to the American people?

The Environment

Shortly before the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst single environmental distaster in history, President Obama approved a bevy of new oil drilling leases off the Atlantic coast. While there was no direct connection between the two events, the lack of understanding was breathtaking. At issue was, and will be for the foreseeable future, the conflict between corporate profit and the habitability of the earth itself. Which will you choose?

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Why Aren’t Americans Fighting Back?

E. Douglas Kihn | Truthout | July 15, 2013

Rage in Red. (Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: _ambrown, Muffet)

This is the big question, right? It’s what people are wondering everywhere.

The answer is simple and plausible – but the explanation is a bit more complicated. The majority of Americans are suffering terribly from the current economic crisis, but they do not yet have a political self-identity that will allow for a successful fightback. They don’t know who they are or what they’re fighting for. Neither do they understand whom or what they are fighting against.

“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles . . . if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” These are the words of Sūn Zǐ, a 6th century BCE Chinese general, military strategist, and author of The Art of War, an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy.

All fighting is the same. Self-knowledge and knowledge of the enemy confer on the fighter the outlines of a winning strategy, based on the best utilization of available weapons of offense and defense.

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