I was lucky enough to attend the Clinton Global Initiative this week in New York City representing The Gen Z Perspective newsletter.
I’ll be honest.
Part of me left the convention feeling hopeful, another part of me left it feeling doomed.
Bill Clinton
Former President Bill Clinton delivered a speech to kick off the 2-day event. It was fascinating to hear his perspective on things.
To me, he seemed equally as shocked and disturbed at the state of the country as we all are.
He was clearly appalled by the foreign policy decisions being made by the current administration, which he continuously referred to as a ‘retreating government.’
He was distraught by the fact that we’ve isolated ourselves on the world stage by cutting off longtime allies and engaging in “conflict instead of cooperation,” which Clinton, in many words, said was a giant mistake.
Clinton then weighed in on the wealth gap, and asked rhetorically: “Should there be socialism for everyone or socialism only for the wealthy and well connected?”
He also compared AI with that of the nuclear arms race and warned we shouldn’t be competing with China in an AI race to ‘Armageddon.’ Again, he kept stressing cooperation over conflict.
Clinton, later in life, is seeing how detrimental conflict is in the long-run for us as a nation. I’m definitely assuming here, but I bet he’s had a lot of time to reflect, what has all this conflict done for us or for the world at large?
A smart thing he said was: “In order for us to regulate AI, it would mean we’d have to accept AI will decline to accept the restraints we place on it.”
Essentially, to admit that AI needs regulation is to admit the technology is smarter than its creators.
It must be strange for President Bill Clinton, clearly a deep-thinker and someone who believes in giving back, to see a selfish and corrupt man like Donald Trump get into the Oval and sit in the same seat he sat in 30 years ago—merely for the purpose of enriching himself while cutting off our alliances, cutting off aid to countries in need, gutting healthcare, and putting his name on national monuments instead of doing things to help the American people.
All I could think about when listening to Bill Clinton speak was that once upon a time, we had President with intelligence and empathy. Not even saying that in a ‘gotcha’ way to Trump, but Clinton talked about all of the foundations he and Hillary are supporting across the globe to combat climate change, child hunger, disease, promote education, science, etc. Not to mention, Hillary has spent the past decade doing charity and philanthropy despite losing in 2016. (She’s done more public service since 2016 than most public servants in office!)
Can you imagine Donald Trump leading a charity or starting a foundation when his term ends? The question is rhetorical of course. He’d start a charity if he could grift from it or use it to launder money.
Bill Clinton, in closing
Clinton’s message was for all of us to step up our philanthropy, spread our good values, and American principles—or as he said, “fill the gap” left by a “retreating government.”
Felt like I was watching a relic of the past: a president with a brain and a heart who cared about leaving the country in a better place than he found it.
He didn’t need to give that speech or even attend. But he’s still out there, pushing, fighting, speaking. He left me feeling inspired.
And yet, other parts of the convention left me feeling less-so:
