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| My pic of the Capitol Building, Washington D.C (2011 - I think it still looks the same) |
One of my fundamental beliefs is that just about every person paying taxes in the United States should be able to hold a public office, with one key exception.
That exception pertains to a specific privilege that less than 1/10th of 1 percent of United States citizens enjoy. It is the pleasure of never, not once, ever having applied for a job.
Granted, probability factors dictate that there are people who have never had to apply for a job due to being blessed with an entrepreneurial bent at an early age that saw them go from lemonade stand to mowing lawns to neighborhood aluminium recycling king to scrap yard owner, but not only are those people far and few between, but in all likelihood those types have no interest in holding public office.
The people who have never applied for a job that I am singling out here are the children of privilege.
I know children of privilege - people who have not only never had to apply for a job, but people who have never had to ask themselves a question that the majority of Americans have had to ask themselves at least once in their lives; "Which bill do I pay first?"
A question which is usually followed by "Which company has the lower late fee?"
This may sound preposterous to some, but I seriously believe that anyone who has never had to carefully fill out a job application or craft a resume so that it presented them and their skills/abilities/talents in the best possible light, and never had to hope that whoever reviewed said submission at the company they were applying at liked what they saw, and then, when the call finally came inviting them in for an interview, never had to worry that they handled the call just right, and when they showed up for the interview, they handled coming in right - not late, for god's sake, but not too early so that they didn't seem desperate, and of course, if a person has never, not once in their life had to hope that the person that actually interviewed them for the job liked them - how they looked, spoke, sat, fidgeted or didn't fidget, etc., thought they would be a good fit for the company, a competent, productive addition to the staff - if a person hasn't had to endure that at least once in their lives, then they not only have zero idea what it takes to be a real citizen of the United States, they have no actual working idea of what it takes to be a part of a free-market economy based on Capitalist ideals.
It's that simple. People who have been handed everything since the day they were born, who have been blessed with never once in their entire lives having to wonder how they were going to come up with enough money to put gas in the car, or how they were going to get the only decent business-like clothes dry-cleaned and presentable, or who have never had to hope that the background check doesn't go as far back as that one stupid incident at the Burger Barn when they were 17...well, those people lack a key qualification, a key insight, into what it really means to be not only an American, but a real human being.
If you didn't have to apply for every grant for college you were eligible for, and some you probably were not, and still had to take out a boatload of student loans, you're disqualified too.
The only exception is military service. I come from a military family - my Father, Mother, myself and both of my brothers all served in the military. It's a crap job, and until you get some time in service and rank, everybody with one more stripe or bar than you is your boss. Being born to privilege matters not an iota. Hell, I knew a few guys in basic who came from money, and when the D.I.'s found out, they were much harder on them than the rest of us - so that's their only way in.
Of course, this might present a problem for the United States Congress. All 535 voting members are pretty much millionaires - The average Republican is worth $907,104.00, and the average Democrat is worth $990,508.00 (you read that right - the average Democrat is worth more than the average Republican).
Those numbers are compliments of OpenSecrets.org
I'll concede that a number of the members of Congress have actually earned their wealth, but I'll also point out that a large percentage did not - they were born into money, and have always had money. They went to the finest schools and got every break and privilege that goes with...being born to money.
And they can afford to buy elections.
This may sound preposterous to some, but I seriously believe that anyone who has never had to carefully fill out a job application or craft a resume so that it presented them and their skills/abilities/talents in the best possible light, and never had to hope that whoever reviewed said submission at the company they were applying at liked what they saw, and then, when the call finally came inviting them in for an interview, never had to worry that they handled the call just right, and when they showed up for the interview, they handled coming in right - not late, for god's sake, but not too early so that they didn't seem desperate, and of course, if a person has never, not once in their life had to hope that the person that actually interviewed them for the job liked them - how they looked, spoke, sat, fidgeted or didn't fidget, etc., thought they would be a good fit for the company, a competent, productive addition to the staff - if a person hasn't had to endure that at least once in their lives, then they not only have zero idea what it takes to be a real citizen of the United States, they have no actual working idea of what it takes to be a part of a free-market economy based on Capitalist ideals.
It's that simple. People who have been handed everything since the day they were born, who have been blessed with never once in their entire lives having to wonder how they were going to come up with enough money to put gas in the car, or how they were going to get the only decent business-like clothes dry-cleaned and presentable, or who have never had to hope that the background check doesn't go as far back as that one stupid incident at the Burger Barn when they were 17...well, those people lack a key qualification, a key insight, into what it really means to be not only an American, but a real human being.
If you didn't have to apply for every grant for college you were eligible for, and some you probably were not, and still had to take out a boatload of student loans, you're disqualified too.
The only exception is military service. I come from a military family - my Father, Mother, myself and both of my brothers all served in the military. It's a crap job, and until you get some time in service and rank, everybody with one more stripe or bar than you is your boss. Being born to privilege matters not an iota. Hell, I knew a few guys in basic who came from money, and when the D.I.'s found out, they were much harder on them than the rest of us - so that's their only way in.
Of course, this might present a problem for the United States Congress. All 535 voting members are pretty much millionaires - The average Republican is worth $907,104.00, and the average Democrat is worth $990,508.00 (you read that right - the average Democrat is worth more than the average Republican).
Those numbers are compliments of OpenSecrets.org
I'll concede that a number of the members of Congress have actually earned their wealth, but I'll also point out that a large percentage did not - they were born into money, and have always had money. They went to the finest schools and got every break and privilege that goes with...being born to money.
And they can afford to buy elections.
If your name is Rockefeller (as in Jay Rockefeller, D/W.Va.), you are so far removed from actual work I am willing to bet you have never even seen a job application.
Hell, if your name is Rockefeller or Kennedy, even if it's just coincidence, you're out.
Of course, that's just my constitutionally protected opinion, sprinkled with just a bit of envy. Wish I never had had to apply for a job. Must be freakin' sweet.
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