Again, If I Had a Platform.../Clinton rant
-Implement redistributive measures to increase funding for low-property appraisal school districts
-Reinstate the estate tax
-Increase capital gains and dividends taxes
-Increase funding for Pell Grants/consolidate with other state/federal aid programs
-simplify the tax code
-immediate repeal of "right-to-work" laws
-Increase rate of income taxation for uppermost tax brackets
-de-escalate military spending, invest in public health (immunizations/basic standard of healthcare)
-Immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq, closure of military bases
-repeal PRWORA, reinstate AFDC stipends (Aid to Families with Dependent Children)
These would be a few of the measures I would probably take. A lot has to be done in order to offset Bush's (AND Clinton's) rollbacks in social spending, not to mention this move toward so-called "free market" economics we've been experiencing since the late 1970's. That reminds me--the Clinton administration seems to receive a lot of praise from those on the left politically; something I don't really understand:
-He legislated "welfare reform" in 1996, which, while reducing the size of welfare rolls, carried significant social costs (Michael Moore actually documents some of these in "Bowling for Columbine")
-He signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (You think Bush has a shit record with reference to civil liberties? read into this piece of legislation)
-His administration escalated sanctions on Iraq (on FOOD AND HEALTHCARE); blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children during the 90's
These, not to mention the fact that the U.S. Gini Coefficient actually increased during the Clinton administration (albeit at a slower rate than it had under the Reagan administration).