[Rhodes22-list] Politics - Harry Truman Style

[pdgrand at nospam.wmis.net]

No one could have said it better.....
   'It doesn't matter how big a ranch ya' own, or how many cows ya' brand,
the size of your funeral is still gonna depend on the weather.'   
Harry Truman
   ...............................................
   After President Truman retired from office in 1952, he was left with an
income consisting only of a U.S.Army pension, reported to have been
just $13,507.72 a year.  Congress, noting that he was paying for his
own stamps and  personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance'
and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.  When offered
corporate positions at large
salaries, he declined, stating, 'You don't want me.  You want the Office
of the President, and that doesn't belong to me.  It belongs to the
American people and it's not for sale.'
   Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him
the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it,
writing, 'I don't consider that I have done anything which should be
the reason for any award,  Congressional or otherwise.'
   We now see that other past presidents have found a new level of success
in cashing in on the presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today,
many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while
enjoying the fruits of their offices.  Obviously, political offices are
now for sale.
   Good ol' Harry Truman might well have been correct when he observed,
'My choice early in life was to be either a piano player in a
whorehouse or a politician.  And to tell the truth, there's hardly any
difference.  I, for one, believe the piano player to be much more
honorable than current politicians.'




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