The Clinton Gingrich Years

I have been watching and listening to a lot of the heated, verbal assaults lately between the Republicans and Democrats lately. One person keeps showing up, our good friend Newt Gingrich. Unfortunately, Newt got caught up in his own Lewinsky scandal and was forced out of Congress after bashing Clinton severely for his misdeeds.

This got me to thinking about government spending. I did some research on the Clinton surpluses during the time when the Republican soundly ruled Congress and the Democrats owned the White House.

From 1997 to 2001, our government had a budget surplus of $236.2 billion including the Social Security numbers. This averages out to around $59 billion a year. The surpluses can be largely accredited to the income tax and the Social Security tax increases when Clinton first got into office along with tax increase from George H. W. "Read My Lips" Bush.

What really sticks out in my mind is how Clinton and Gingrich each had their own agendas and settled in the middle for the good of the country. Clinton wanted health care. Gingrich wanted smaller government. In the end, we got a balanced budget, welfare reform, and over 17 million new jobs which is far more than the 9.5 million new jobs created under Reagan.

Then I really started thinking. What would have happened if the Lewinsky and Gingrich scandals had not occurred? Would the Republicans have kept control of Congress? Would Al Gore have won the election?

While I am not an Al Gore fan because of his radical environmental views, I think our country could have continued the trend of surpluses and prosperity. I also believe Gingrich would have continued as the Speaker of the House. I will save the environment opinions for later.

I do not think having Al Gore in the White House would have prevented September 11. However, I believe he would have taken a softer approach on the terror war and stuck with going after Bin Laden much like Clinton and using sub based missiles to attack terrorist training sites. This approach is much cheaper and less costly that the $80 billion a year we are spending on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sure, he would have pushed the environmental changes that would jeopardize business profitability. Yet, Al Gore would have had stay in check with the Republican Congress to draft middle of the road legislation that benefits both sides of the political spectrum. I think we would have had Social Security and Medicare reform. There would have been legislation for better fuel efficient cars, the one environmental clause I think Al could have passed. Lastly, I think we would have continued operating with a budget surplus reducing our deficit.

Best of all, Barney Frank would have never been chairman of the House Finance Committee touting that Fannie and Freddie are in good shape. This alone would have helped us avoid the current housing collapse and recession.

I guess I should have called this piece the "What if? The Gore Gingrich Years". What your thought?