I like your casting of the "Clinton" surplus as a concept, like corporations, that assumed a type of "personhood" of it's own in the 90's. A threatening, stalking hun at the gates of the mil/indus complex. One that could ruin everything for a sector that very nearly prints it's own money!

I place "Clinton" in quotes since I have never been convinced that Clinton had any more to do with that surplus than Reagan had with the fall of the Soviet Union. For me, Clinton was just the prez-on-duty when the .com bubble boiled off excess, temporary tax revenue. Clinton was just lucky to be gone by 2001.

As far as his being a "Radical", I completely agree but for utterly different reasons. The weird-science that were the NAFTA/WTO/GATT experiments of his term continue to do radical harm to this nation! We live daily with the bitter fruits of out-sourcing, job cuts, near total elimination of our manufacturing sector (oh! except weapons, imagine that!), the increasing elimination of our information and technology sectors (except as relates to....weapons!). If you haven't been sent down the economic slide by these theories, your neighbor has.

Globalization was a nutty idea then and is proven so today. Clinton made it his signature project. Almost single-handedly, he paved the way for the Draining of America.

Lastly, I agree completely that we fight the good fight against the goliath of corporate person-hood through the Democratic Party. There is no alternative. And I back that conviction with party line votes in the General.

I share your view of what the Party should stand for - and once actually made manifest. But those wonderful days are so v.e.r.y. l.o.n.g. ago, now. This defeat from inside our own party has been going on non-stop since, at least, the Iran-Contra hearings when another Repub administration ran amok and Democrats who could have stopped it all - just kinda didn't want to, like, you know, all the way (also: see NAFTA above). Although they proceeded much further toward justice than our current team, the Washington Enablers, have.

Where I differ from most Democratic loyalists is that my affection extends to the traditional Dem values only. I find the modern Democrats we almost accidentally elect to be so unimpressive as to be indistinguishable from each other. A unending series of Prom Kings and Dairy Princesses. And throwing out the truly inept and cowardly ones (during the primary season) is a job more akin to un-clogging a drain than shooting a Duke.

We are here to fire these folks and do it with all the trepidation of Ivanka Trump dismissing a pool-boy. We are then saddled with the duty of knowing a better candidate when we see one. Something we have totally forgotten how to do as we tally weekend box office receipts or focus with laser-like disdain on a single poor shlump on Cops.

The day of casual voting is over. We have to all dig-in, every day, from now on and start sending who WE want up for consideration for high office. Once some critical mass of Americans gets the habit of daily citizenship we will see how so many of the grim realities we face are only several votes away from popping like that .com bubble. No Battle to the End of Time necessary

Let's value our congresspeople far less and ourselves more. Democrats everywhere, get control of your employees in Congress!