by Robert Reich

Last night, nine likely or official Republican presidential candidates converged just outside Des Moines to woo conservative voters at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s 15th annual candidate forum. But the "moral crises” they spoke about – gay marriage, abortion, and prayer – involve personal decisions. They are no business of government. The real crisis of our time doesn’t involve private morality. It’s a crisis of public morality -- the torrent of big money drowning our democracy, insider trading on Wall Street, corporations buying back shares of stock to pump up prices when their executives cash in stock options, influence-peddling in Washington and state capitals, and the increasingly savage inequalities of income, wealth, and power in America.

Which is why questions about the relationship between politics and wealthy donors who support the Clinton Foundation are troubling. At the least, Hillary Clinton must fully address how she dealt with potential conflicts of interest as secretary of state and how she intends to prevent such conflicts should she become President. There must be full and complete disclosure of all sources of funding that went and is still going to the Foundation, and the ban on donations from foreigners in effect when she was secretary of state should be reinstated for the remainder of her candidacy. Abuses of power, and the close nexus between wealth and politics, are the reason the deck is stacked in favor of those at the top. If she is to be a credible champion of everyday Americans, Hillary Clinton must leave no doubt about whose side she's on.

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