With the presidential season in full swing, my mind has turned to politics of late. Personally, I’ve always had an interest in running for office and obviously I think I’d make a darn good Congressman or President. So I’ve pondered it some and lightly researched it. How could I, as a normal guy with a family, run for political office? Basically there are only four offices that I see (Governor, US Representative, US Senator and President) that would allow me to support my family without working another job. But you typically don’t start out in one of these offices. What job do you have where you can walk in to your boss and say, “Listen, I’m going to need the next 60-90 days off to go to Tallahassee for the next legislative session”? How do you live on the $30,000 salary that you make as a Florida State Congressman? This is to say nothing of all the time that must be spent “paying your dues” to the party before you could ever hope of getting the support necessary for a nomination. So just how’s a guy to make it?
I want to be very clear here. I got married young and had a family young. These are decisions I do not regret, though these decisions obviously “hamstrung” me in certain respects (as all decisions do, to some extent). In addition, great pursuits require great risk. A pursuit of public office should require a single-mindedness of purpose. My question is, are we evolving to being governed by a class not unlike the Guardians of Plato’s Republic? And with the rising cost of political campaigns, is this class, instead of consisting of those educated from birth to be the most effective rulers, composed of the well off and those who inherited wealth, allowing them to work for peanuts without having to worry about sustaining a family on $30,000 a year? It seems to me that most of our politicians are “out of touch” with “Average Americans”. Is this because you can’t be an “Average American” and get elected? To be sure, there's something to be said for a politician not being dependent on winning the next election to make their mortgage payment, like Mitt Romney was taught. But at what point does an "exclusive class" entered only by the persistent and those who desire it strong enough to make the necessary sacrifices, become an "exclusive class" dedicated only to those with enough money to buy their way in, to the exclusion of your "Average Americans"?
I want to be very clear here. I got married young and had a family young. These are decisions I do not regret, though these decisions obviously “hamstrung” me in certain respects (as all decisions do, to some extent). In addition, great pursuits require great risk. A pursuit of public office should require a single-mindedness of purpose. My question is, are we evolving to being governed by a class not unlike the Guardians of Plato’s Republic? And with the rising cost of political campaigns, is this class, instead of consisting of those educated from birth to be the most effective rulers, composed of the well off and those who inherited wealth, allowing them to work for peanuts without having to worry about sustaining a family on $30,000 a year? It seems to me that most of our politicians are “out of touch” with “Average Americans”. Is this because you can’t be an “Average American” and get elected? To be sure, there's something to be said for a politician not being dependent on winning the next election to make their mortgage payment, like Mitt Romney was taught. But at what point does an "exclusive class" entered only by the persistent and those who desire it strong enough to make the necessary sacrifices, become an "exclusive class" dedicated only to those with enough money to buy their way in, to the exclusion of your "Average Americans"?
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