Political Prostitutes Times Three

Let me begin with a disclaimer: I am an incurable idealist. Always have been and I suspect, always will be. I suppose that is why I so closely identify with the words of George Bernard Shaw and Robert F. Kennedy, “Some men see things as they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

My incurable idealism is also why I was sickened and deeply offended by the sight of two former presidents and the current Commander-in-Chief of the United States hawking access to themselves last week like a bunch of political prostitutes. For a $100,000 donation to President Biden’s re-election campaign, you could get your picture taken with Geritol Joe, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Some donors paid up to $500,000 for additional “up close and personal” perks.

Nauseating, if you ask me… and just plain wrong.

These three men have been granted the privilege of holding the highest political office in America, something that only 42 other men have experienced over the past 232 years. And yet, they treated that honor as a commodity to be bought and sold for personal gain.

I can just hear George Washington turning over in his grave at Mt. Vernon… and Abraham Lincoln doing likewise 800 miles away in Springfield, Illinois.

It’s not enough for these three pompous mercenaries to earn $200,000 - $400,000 per year during their respective terms in office… and annual pensions in excess of $220,000… and travel expenses reimbursed up to $1,000,000 per year… and Secret Service protection for life… and free staff and office expenses (also for life). No, their egos are so inflated that they have to charge the American people to rub elbows with them, let alone pose for a picture.

Whatever happened to the concept of public service… with the emphasis on the word “service”? After all, don’t all government officials actually work for the citizens who pay their salaries?

Sadly, like a bunch of sex-crazed teenagers, deep-pocketed donors (let’s call them “Johns” because that’s really what they are) pony up the equivalent of two-years’ salary for an average American… for what? A private meet and greet with one president who was impeached and disbarred for committing perjury and another president who has mastered the art form of turning political office into a profit-making machine.

Didn’t Harry Truman, the last Democrat president with integrity, famously say “Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I’ll show you a crook”?

And then there’s Sleepy, Creepy, Sleazy Joe Biden, peddling his office while he still holds it. For the life of me, I can’t understand why that is legal. But even if it is, it’s still immoral and unethical… two character traits that run deep in the Biden bloodline.

At the same time – and less than 40 miles away from Radio City Music Hall where the Three Socialist Stooges were holding court – former President Donald Trump was attending a wake for Jonathan Diller, the NYPD office who was killed in the line of duty last week.

Officer Diller left behind a wife and a one-year-old son, Ryan. Meanwhile, Joe Biden left his fundraising gala with $25 million stuffed into his pants pockets.

It doesn’t take an incurable idealist to realize that something needs to drastically change as far as how we conduct our political fundraising… and how we protect and honor our law enforcement officers and other first responders.

More on that tomorrow.