Clinton Trial Essay, Research Paper
Josh Innes
English
Final Draft
The Clinton Trial
The Clinton scandal is finally over, the publicity, the accusations, the
lawsuits, but now that it?s all over who is going to pay for it. I?ll bet it will be youo
and me, the average american tax payer. After reading an article in the Times
Magazine, the Clintons? attorney fee which is $8,000,000. Where does this money
really come from?
The money comes from the hardworking tax payers, people like us. Just
thinking about it makes the blood in my body boil. What I don?t understand is how
one person screws up, and the reprocussion causes others to pay for that one
individuals mistake. I go to school part time and work over forty five hours each
week, and nobody pays for my mistakes. Well no one except me. Millions of
Americans have expressed the same view, wether in the tabloids or in day to day
conversation. Even though the predications of the anarchy never came true and
the markets never crashed, the economy was affected. For about a year now we
(the Americans of the United States) spent a close eye on the Clinton Trial,
starting from the accusations, to the trial, then to the impeachment and finally to
the Senate, to the vote that meant whether president Bill Clinton still had a job or
not.
When I think about this entire trial which never should have occurred,
makes me so angry. I feel that in some ways the system turned itself inside out.
The House members, who stand for election every two years, were the ones who
drove the process forward despite widespread resistance. The Senate was
supposed to judge the case on its legal merits, which was supposed to be protected
from public scrutiny. But in the end, the Senate accepted the fact that the public
had reached a complex decision to tolerate Bill Clinton?s action. The decision
really was settled when the nation spoke out in Clinton?s defense. The public felt
that his private life was exploited due to his position as a the president of the
United States.
What makes me so mad is that this incident happens to millions of couples in
America. But I do not have to pay the price, that we as a nation did with the
Clinton scandal. So many Americans felt that the Clinton issue should have been a
private matter . For years the debate has raged over which conduct is public and
relevant, and which is private and protected. I felt that the Republicans declared
the private aspect of Clintons misconduct as everyone?s business, especially the
Senates. I feel that the Republicans are half to blame for all the focus on this
issue. The House of Representatives kept it going with the impeachment of Bill
Clinton. I felt that the other half to blame is the media.
If the media got the message from the public, then the country would have
been probably happy to move on. Media in today?s world is such a problem. the
way that they exploit peoples private lives. The entire issue on OJ Simpson , the
Mendez Brothers, Amy Fisher, Princess Diana, etc. With all these stories I would
pick up a paper, and that?s all the papers right about. I understand that we, as
the public, should be aware of what?s happened in the nation, the economy.
However, when you start exploiting other people?s personal lives, then it becomes
wrong and sometimes a deadly situation. Look at the Princess Diana case, if it
wasn?t for the media, the couple never would have been running in the first place.
They were running from the media for privacy. And in the end there was the tragic
death of two extraordinary people. So many other people?s lives have been
disturbed by the media and why? Well many say that it?s due to the publics right
to know what there politicians are doing. But the question that I leave you with,
Would you want someone snooping in your personal life? Now that the Clinton
scandal is put to rest what will we do?
The better question is how do we feel about the issue? Many people say that
Clinton has survived with so few Americans approving of his character, but so
many more approving of his performance.
All this trial has shown me is that Clinton has no moral authority, but has
governed somewhat well. Over the past six years, we as a nation has questioned
his authority. From the welfare reform, balancing the budget, raising the
minimum wage, promoting peace in Ireland and elsewhere. Overall, in my
opinion, the president didn?t do such a bad job.