GOP Loves Prestige and Power; Hates Work

Teddy Roosevelt

Not that long ago, politicians considered themselves "public servants" with a responsibility to serve "the public good," not royalty or corporate lackeys.

Unfortunately today's politicians (and to be honest, most of them are Republicans) seek the prestige and power of elected office, not to serve the public interest, but the good of their contributors and lobbyists. Then they have the nerve to tell us they don't really want to work at the job they are being paid to do.

On the other hand, there is the example of Theodore Roosevelt, also a Republican,.He never complained about the effort and sacrifices required to do his job. He relished the role of serving his country and the public good. He was a fighter who embraced the struggle.

Perhaps the present GOP attitude toward public service began with Ronald Reagan. By all accounts he slept through cabinet meetings and did not want to be bothered by the day-to-day requirements of being President. Thus we ended up secretly selling weapons to Iran to finance illegal activities in Nicaragua. Of course, this "see-nothing, know nothing" approach saved Reagan from being impeached. The lower level operatives took the fall for this duplicitous debacle. They took "one for the Gipper."

Today we are seeing the same sort of aversion to doing one's job on the part of some  GOP politicians.

Rubio, Ryan, Jeb Bush

The first case is Jeb Bush's recent whining about how difficult it is to get the GOP nomination He apparently thought he was entitled to nomination by virtue of being part of the "Bush Dynasty." He was surprised the nomination wasn't handed to him on a silver platter. He felt entitled based on some old European concept of royal inheritance. Having to work for it was an alien concept.

In a recent interview in South Carolina, Mr. Bush complained, "I've got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that." Certainly does not sound like Teddy Roosevelt who would immerse himself in the fight.

And as an aside, I would be interested in what "the really cool things" Jeb wants to do are. I doubt that he is thinking about working for Habitat for Humanity or volunteering in a homeless shelter. I suspect, he is thinking "cool things" like hunting and fishing.

Mr. Bush, by the way, who dislikes the work required to gain the nomination is the candidate who told Americans they need to work "longer hours."

And then there is Senator Marco Rubio, who also wants to be President. He wants to fire federal workers for not working hard enough. It so happens that Mr. Rubio has a problem doing his job. This year he missed  1/3 (99) of he votes in the Senate, but continued to take his salary. He has the distinction of having the worst Senate voting record this year. In addition, he has told his friends that he "hates" the job he campaigned for. If he can't handle this job, why should he be given a more difficult job? Someone should remind him that public service takes hard work 

Another guy who has trouble with working is Paul Ryan, the new Speaker of the House, the 3rd most important position in our government. He replaced John Boehner who was famous for leaving the office early. Mr. Ryan is, perhaps, the first Speaker in US history who took  the office after telling us he did not want to work too hard. He informed his colleagues that he would only put in the hours of "a normal day" -- no late nights or weekends.

Mr. Ryan did have a noble reason for his reluctance to work overtime; he wanted to spend more time with his family. Some cynics, on the other hand, suggest he wants the extra time to pursue his "deer-hunting life style." It will be interesting to see whether he attends the next State of the Union speech, as it occurs in the evening after his "normal work day."

Face it, serving one's country as an elected public servant is hard work. (Have you noticed that those who consider themselves privileged and entitled never use the term "public servant"?)


Although Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, do not want to work too hard, they are opposed to raising the minimum wage. Today young mothers and fathers earning the current minimum wage can't possibly support their families by working a "normal work day." They need to work extra hours or work two jobs to make ends meet. Apparently family time is only for the privileged and entitled.

Unfortunately, this country will not continue as a successful democracy if this attitude of entitlement and lack of total commitment permeates our political process. It didn't work out too well for the Roman Empire and it will not work for us.