Earlier this week, as the tax problems of President Obama’s cabinet picks were the buzz in Washington, I exchanged e-mail with a friend in Georgia who expressed a view shared, I'm sure, by a great many Americans:
“I have held a very cynical view of DC politicians for years. Democrat or Republican, I think the process and the bubble of DC makes it, over time, a game to be played. The sense of entitlement becomes pervasive (why pay taxes, that’s what regular people do). With very few exceptions I think that is true.”
I responded that, yes, I’m sure there are those who come to DC wearing an ermine mantle of entitlement. I have known some. However, there are exceptions, and I worked with one: Sam Nunn.
In early 1973, a Gulf Oil lobbyist by the name of Claude Wild claimed in court, during his trial for making illegal campaign contributions, that he had made a cash contribution of $5,000 to each of several candidates in 1972, including US Senate candidate, Sam Nunn. Nunn's campaign had no record of it, nor could anyone associated with the campaign recall the name of the supposed donor. Although there was no record of a contribution from Claude Wild, Sam Nunn incurred $30,000 in legal fees to have a team of lawyers go over every last nickel of campaign contributions in an attempt to find the so-called contribution. It didn't exist, of course, but Nunn was going to make sure it didn't exist...and that the record would show he was willing to take every step to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. He did that, not because he had to, but because it was the right thing to do.
And that’s what public service demands. In order to enjoy the trust of your constituents, one must take every step, even those unpleasant or costly, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
I thought “DC politicians” were all like Sam Nunn, but they were not..........and are not today.
1 comment:
We MUST elect better people. People who have been successful in life, not necessarily just those with money or a family name. Those that have built businesses that have been necessarily successful, but NOT necessarily lucrative, as that is not the only measure of success. Yes there are exceptions, but more and more often they are in the minority in terms of INFLUENCE if not number because those with the money, or backing from the people with it, have the positions of power even within the elected and thus those that funded the election feel entitled to its spoils. Why have we "the people" let it become that you have to be rich or be supported by someone that is to be elected? That sense of entitlement doesn't stop there, most physicians believe that their years of school entitle them to many hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, at least, and many professional athletes believe that their ability to run fast entitles them multi year multi million dollar contracts and what's worse is that we "the people" enable it all. So maybe we all have become spoiled and these representatives, with their sense of entitlement, are just representing what we are as a people now, but I pray that this not true because that is one ugly look in the mirror. I pray that it is just the media coverage that has made it seem this way. Maybe we will wake up, maybe we will see the focus that we have lost, maybe we will see the perspective that we have lost, maybe we will remember that the US is still the best place to live on this planet no matter what the news portrays to sell papers, and maybe we will remember that, everyday, people risk their lives to sneak into this country because it is STILL the land of opportunity. So get off your *** America and make a difference, do not sink into apathy as the Romans did 1500 years ago.
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