Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: White House photograph, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain
Bill Clinton
- Country
- United States
- Era
- b. 1946
- Tradition
- Third Way liberalism
President who moved the Democratic Party towards the market — welfare reform, financial deregulation, NAFTA, balanced budgets — while expanding tax credits for low-income workers and children’s health coverage.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Signed welfare reform in 1996, replacing entitlement cash assistance with time-limited block grants and work requirements
- Signed NAFTA and secured permanent normal trade relations with China
- Repealed the Glass–Steagall separation of commercial and investment banking and exempted derivatives from regulation
- Expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit substantially and created the Children’s Health Insurance Program
- Signed the 1994 crime bill, expanding federal prisons, mandatory minimums and police funding
- Raised top marginal income tax rates in 1993 and left office with a federal budget surplus
- Attempted and failed to pass universal health insurance in 1993–94
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
55
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
66
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
58
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Documented
Tradition and change
70
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Well documented
Nation and the world
32
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Power and its limits
68
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Documented
Environment and growth
55
Production firstProtection first
Evidence: Documented
Crime and punishment
25
PunishmentRehabilitation
Evidence: Well documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Religion and the state
Sources
- United States Congress, Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act · 1996
- John F. Harris, The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House · Random House · 2005
Last verified: