5th Anniversary of Clinton Library

Wednesday, November 18th I had the privilege to be one of ten Comcasters to attend the 5th anniversary of the Clinton Library. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life so far and I wanted to be sure I recorded some of what I recall from Bill's enthralling speech.

He opened by saying that the original intent of the library was for every visitor, regardless of political affiliation to come away with the recognition that elections have consequences. He warned against the cynicism that so many of us have towards civic involvement. (This I applauded loudly, as I have recently come across several people whose cynicism, it seemed to me was just an excuse to be lazy.)

He said many other important things and I am still trying to find this speech on the internet so I can listen again. The points that struck me the most were when he discussed what sets 3rd world nations apart from civilized nations. He highlighted a concept he said he learned from a college Western Civ. professor. The idea of "future preference" - a looking ahead and wanting to make the world better for future generations and acting from a hope for better things to come defines a civilized nation.

He also mentioned that the problem with any struggling nation is a LACK OF CAPACITY - a lack of institutions and systems to create capacity for things most of us in the U.S. take for granted like access to food and water. He said that these nations need systems in place that provide "a predictable result for efforts made" where "intelligence and effort are rewarded".

Likewise, he discussed that the problem of "stable countries with lots of institutions is "rigidivism", or resistance and "unwillingness to change to keep up with the times". Citizens of these nations should remember that the original intent and purpose of these institutions is to serve and citizens should caution against maintaining the status quo in changing times. An example he used was the teachers in New York City (his office is in Harlem) fighting against the rise of Charter schools.

He gave many statistics in his call for us to reform healthcare. A few of them I wrote down. The U.S. spends more than any other nation in the world on healthcare costs at 16.5% of GDP. The next nation in spending on healthcare is Switzerland at 11.5%, and Canada is next at 10.5%. Most other nations spend between 9 and 10%. He went on to relay that the U.S. ranks 35th in healthcare (which aspect I can not recall exactly). He said that is below Colombia, with all of their drug and war lords, who are ranked at 25th in the world for healthcare.

He also mentioned the need to renovate the Rock Island railroad bridge located adjacent to the library. This footage, posted by Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times, is the only footage I've found so far of his speech and it is just a snippet where he talks about restoring the bridge for pedestrians and bikers.