President Hillary Rodham Clinton: A bitter day for America By Doug Patton Last year, I wrote a three-part series entitled, "Remembering the Future," wherein I speculated on what might happen in the 2008 presidential election. The last installment of the series was published on September 10th. Timing is everything. Looking back to the innocent world we all lived in then, I have often wondered, in light of the events of September 11th, how I might have changed the scenario of that final episode the one that ultimately elected Hillary Rodham Clinton to the presidency. In light of the transforming events of the last few months, much of the plot of this trilogy would have to be changed if I were writing it today; but I am still convinced that Sen. Clinton aspires to the presidency; but unlike others, I still believe she will forego a run in 2004 and wait for an open seat in 2008 (assuming a Bush reelection). So what would Hillary's America look like? And how would she wield some of the new powers being implemented by the current administration? Let's take a look "I, Hillary Rodham Clinton, do solemnly swear " There she was, the most loved and hated woman in America, taking the oath of office to become the 44th President of the United States, the first female ever to hold the office. Her husband, the only impeached president of modern times, held the Bible for her swearing in. The scene was surreal. Her first days in office made her husband's reign look like the first term of Ronald Reagan. But then, her predecessor, George W. Bush had laid the groundwork for her. As a wartime president, he had been given great latitude by most Americans, who seemed willing to trade liberty for security. They discovered too late that they got neither. It was a short step from the so-called Homeland Security Act of 2001 a knee-jerk piece of legislation passed by congress in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center to the requirement that every American be forced to carry a national identification card. Not a state-issued drivers license, mind you, but a full-blown federal I.D. with information about every law-abiding American plugged into national computer systems. Hillary felt none of the restraint that had kept the Bush Administration from using these new powers to harass gun-owners, pro-life demonstrators and Christian churches. Armed with the backing of a congress willing to rubber-stamp her tyranny, she ran roughshod over every group that ever populated her vast right-wing conspiracy. Never mind the Constitution. These people were dangerous to national security, and she went after them with a vengeance. She began by seeking a ban on all semi-automatic handguns. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, introduced the "Sportsperson's Protection Act." Dressed up to look like a bill to protect the rights of hunters to use "reasonable" rifles and shotguns, the legislation was actually an excuse to demonize the owners of handguns. After banning the semi-automatics, it was an easy next step to ban all handguns. This was achieved when, on September 11, 2011, the president cynically used the tenth anniversary of one of America's darkest hours to sign the bill, proclaiming it "one of the most significant pieces of national security legislation since the beginning of the war on terror." Under the sweeping new provisions of the revamped War Powers Act, her first executive order was so draconian, it completely banned all protest of abortion. Anyone arrested for protesting outside an abortion clinic was automatically branded a terrorist and held without bail, tried, convicted and sentenced to five years in federal prison. The courts backed her up. The congress passed, and the president signed into law, the "Reparations Act of 2010." The bill cost taxpayers well over $35 billion. Every black American received $1,000 in reparations for slavery. Presumably out of a severe attack of guilt, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and numerous other black multi-millionaires donated their checks to charity. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton kept theirs. Hillary's second executive order held that any minister speaking against homosexuality was automatically guilty of "hate speech" and "incitement to violence." The penalty was a $25,000 fine or two years in prison for the pastor. "Injured" parties were also allowed to sue the church and receive compensatory and punitive damages. The entrepreneurship of the American people created a robust economy on Hillary's watch, much as it had for her husband. This emboldened her to revisit her old favorite issue free health care for everyone. The plan was implemented in 2012, just in time for her reelection campaign. Be careful what you wish for in a free society. Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter and policy advisor for federal, state and local candidates and elected officials. E-mail him at dpatton@neonramp.com. © Copyright 2002 by Doug Patton
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