Remarks on Globalization at Forum 2000, Prague - October 13, 1998
Link to her speeches 1993-2000
http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/general-index.html....
So what vision of the future do we dare to imagine today? I hope that out of conversations like this here and others that are going on throughout the world, we will begin to realistically parse through globalization. In and of itself it is neither a good nor an evil. In and of itself, we are offered tremendous opportunities if only we take responsibility to address our problems. As with every age, we have to take the world as we’ve been given it, not as we wish it were, either with a too optimistic or pessimistic vision. And we have to create conditions in which democratic governments become even more the norm so that all citizens are given a stake in their future. In which free markets benefit all people and not just a privileged few. And in which a vibrant civil society fosters free and active citizens who will, after all, ultimately determine our common human fate in the next millennium.
I often think of society with a very simple metaphor: as a three-legged stool. One leg is the government, another is the economy, and the third is civil society. Obviously we cannot sit on that stool if there is only one leg or two and we cannot sit on it if one leg is longer or shorter than the other two. Rather, we need three strong legs and a balance among them. They have to support each other. And so if we think about the challenges that confront us, it is simple for me to think about what needs to be done to make sure each of those three institutions and structures are strong enough to support society in the years to come.
We just heard a very eloquent description of some of the global governance issues confronting us, so we are not only talking about government in terms of national governments, but how we will create the institutions that will enable us to have strong governmental effects on runaway economies, on global capitalism, and other challenges. How we will redo international institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, to create new financial architectures to replace what was established more than fifty years ago at Bretton Woods. We know that government is an essential part of strong societies that will enable people to live up to their God-given potential, and yet in many parts of the world, particularly in my own country in the last decade or so, we have had a continued assault on government, as though the abolition or weakening of government would create conditions that would better foster human enterprise and individual freedom. That is, I believe, a mistaken notion that hopefully we will put to rest as we end this century. We need strong and active governments, neither oppressive nor weak, but able to deal with the problems of their citizens and able to create public goods for their citizens to enjoy.
Similarly, with the economy, there are those who are great critics of the free market and those who are great advocates. Either position probably overstates both the capacity of the market and also the defects of it. We are working our way toward trying to create in the global marketplace some of the rules and regulations that will enable us to enjoy the benefits without suffering from its excesses. There is a lot of work to do on that front. So there are many tough questions posed by how we best structure and create governmental and economic institutions that will prepare the way for a better future.
But I wish to just concentrate for a few minutes on the third leg of the stool. That of civil society, of citizenship. The space that is filled between, on the one hand, the government, and the economy on the other. It is really in that space that life is lived. The economy is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. To create enough wealth that people can enjoy what is best about life. Government is not an end in itself, but a means to an end, to help us order ourselves so that we have the freedom and individual space to pursue our own interests. In that space of civil society exists families and religion, voluntary associations, art sand culture, and learning, and most importantly, the training ground of what creates citizens from people. Economic opportunity can provide jobs and income, but economic activity alone cannot create the work ethic that capitalism requires. It can create consumers and producers of goods, but not citizens.
Governments alone cannot create citizens either. Only civil society can do that important job. As I have traveled throughout the world, I have seen how critical this component is, for us to imagine a kind of future that all of us hope for. I have seen what happens to people whose spirits have been crushed, whose economies have been driven into the ground, whose governments have oppressed their spirits. And yet, I have seen how their determination and support for one another can lift them up to rebuild their lives and families.
http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/generalspeeches/1998/19981013.htmlShe was always articulate, but then so is a rabid barking dog compared to bush.
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