Trust Is a Four-Letter Word
I read on the Internet that Bob Dole described former President Eisenhower as someone you could trust. "How important that little four-letter word is to everyone," Dole is alleged to have said, and I don’t know if he actually did, but it certainly is plausible, knowing his history...whatever...and this man was second choice to run the free world.
Worse, he still looks a lot better than most of those running for the Republican nomination today. Have you seen how John McCain has gotten roasted by his homestate paper? The editors of the Arizona Republic skewered McCain for having a terrible temper. They came forward, said the editors, only after the mainstream media refused to mention the problem. Good that they did.
Personally, I think it should be a significant issue -- how someone seeking higher office treats his staff. Just as it should be how he runs his campaign. After all, here is a chance to see how someone who is running to be a manager, actually manages. Is he organized? Is he on budget? Does he attract top people? Does he have the respect of his co-workers? Do they like him as a person?
There are a number of people on Capitol Hill who have a reputation for treating their people badly. Turn-over in some offices is faster than the used-car business. And that’s not the kind of manager we should have in office. We should seek and elect exemplary people, who know how to hire the right people to implement the right policy.
This isn’t all that complicated, you know. For every lock, after all, there is a key. We have to go back and strip out the political chaff from the wheat of important legislation and get this country operating efficiently again. Even if it means throwing everyone who’s now in, out. Granted, we would be losing a few good people, but when you realize how little has been accomplished on Capitol Hill in the past thirty years, I say dump everyone who’s served two terms or more, out on their tin ears, now.
It was ironic that the recent debate over increasing Congressional pay prompted supporters to say that more money was needed to attract better people. Pshaw! We could pay a half-million dollars a year and still we’d get the incompetents and egotists who fill the halls and legislative agenda. I say that we should drop the salary to $100-thousand a year, cut Congressional staffs in half, and hold weekend sessions until they get it right.
Am I holding my breath? No, if we wait for Congress to police itself, we will wait in vain. Which is why I will only vote for people of integrity. Who are also good to their staff.
And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.
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