Clinton sold out U.S. for speaker fees

Speeches for $275,000 and more a pop? Multimillion dollar donations from shady universities and corrupt foreign governments? What possible value could any words that the Clintons say enable them to command such unearthly sums?

The Clintons have spent their lives as “public servants” and are now fabulously wealthy. How does that compute? Yet those who decry the wealth of the 1 percent don’t seem to have a problem with the idea that no politician ever seems to retire poor.

Many are torn between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They call him dishonorable because a few of his many businesses have gone bankrupt. But people who start businesses bring not only wealth to themselves, but value and prosperity to others.

Businessmen are needed for a growing economy. That’s why we have bankruptcy laws — so that risk-taking businessmen know that if things don’t work out there will be an orderly and legal process to manage the situation. There’s nothing dishonorable about that.

The business of the Clintons is different. Their fortune comes not from creating jobs but from blatantly selling our nation’s highest office. They’ve been pedaling the presidency for years. People give them fortunes to hear their inane speeches not because of soaring rhetoric, but because they’re counting on those bets paying off big when Hillary is president.

Her legacy should be one of ineptitude and the corrupt politics of self-enrichment. That is the legacy she and her husband deserve, and if she loses this November, that is the legacy they will have. She truly is crooked. But if she wins the election, she gets away with it.

Don’t let her. American voters can still emerge from this with our dignity and principles intact, but not if we elect someone who has sold out her country in return for personal riches.

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Clinton sold out U.S. for speaker fees."