As Congressional hearings, Grand Jury depositions, and Monica Lewinsky tidbits all begin to find their way to the back pages of American newspapers, the time to step back and take a careful, macroscopic view of the near-catastrophic events of the Clinton impeachment has come. UMass Boston political science professor Thomas Ferguson has done just that in the March 8 edition of The Nation, in his article entitled "Impeachment: The Sequel: Smoke in Starr's Chamber."
Ferguson refers to the Clinton affair as a meltdown, the "political
equivalent of Three Mile Island." Yet rather than take the popular
approach of pitting stubborn Democrats against ruthless Republicans,
Ferguson sees much broader forces at work. "What explains the
long-running meltdown? In a political system in which it is accepted
practice to sell nights in a White House bedroom but consensual sex
there can bring down the regime, there is another answer: money. From
this standpoint, the high drama of impeachment looks like an
extraordinary case of business as usual, with the primary issues
being taxes, government regulation and the future of laissez-faire."
In his article, Ferguson points to the "thin wedge of support"
Clinton received from big business, and the Administration's
subsequent political movement away from that support. While in no way
removing responsibility from the GOP's all-too willing combativeness,
Ferguson also lists the NRA, the healthcare industry, and, most
explicitly, the tobacco industry as in direct opposition to the
Clinton Administration. The most serious assertions in the article
speak of the apparent conflict of interest for tobacco industry
player Brown & Williamson and Kenneth Starr, and the tobacco
industry's "long history of targeting its political enemies."
This is not Professor Ferguson first feature story for The Nation. He
has been a regular contributor for the publication for nearly two
decades. In addition, he has published Golden Rule: The Investment
Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven
Politics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), and
"Blowing Smoke: Who Wants Clinton Impeached and Why," for American
Democracy in the 21st Century, from which the above essay was
adapted. His article in The Nation can be seen on the world
wide web at www.thenation.com
under the heading "archives."
- - By Patrick Dwyer