{"id":1055,"date":"2025-12-14T14:48:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T19:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2025-12-14T14:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T19:48:16","slug":"at-what-point-do-they-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/2025\/12\/14\/at-what-point-do-they-change\/","title":{"rendered":"At What Point Do They Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVERYONE WHO SEEKS PUBLIC OFFICE PURPORTS TO DO SO<\/strong> seeking the “public good.”\u00a0 Whether they wish to right an injustice, Improve the lot of the poor, hungry and homeless, or stand up to oppression, they take to the stage with pronouncements of good intent.<\/p>\n

Sure, there are some who simply want the trappings of power and control, but not all politicians start that way.\u00a0 But they all wind up that way.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 How?\u00a0 When?<\/p>\n

Lord Acton<\/a> once observed<\/p>\n

\u201cPower tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This explains the “why,” and perhaps the “how,” but not the when.\u00a0 Are some politicians more corruptible than others?\u00a0 Reversing the question, are there some politicians who are less corruptible?\u00a0 Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), is known to vote against nearly every form of government spending.\u00a0 This draws the ire of many from both sides of the aisle, but he stands resolute.\u00a0 On his website<\/a>, he shows the Nation Debt “clock” in real time, a stark reminder that with every passing second, the nation’s debt climbs astronomically.\u00a0 Paul’s resistance to spending is based on his wish to not add more to the debt.\u00a0 Is he incorruptible?\u00a0 He may be the only one.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps he hasn’t yet reached the “when” stage.\u00a0 Newer members of Congress have displayed almost no resistance to the siren call of power and corruption.\u00a0 The latest darling of the Democrats is Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) who has quickly transformed herself from a middle-class educated attorney to a trash-talking guttersnipe.\u00a0 Buoyed by her constituents’ acclaim, she has now chosen to turn her attention from the House of Representatives (whose district was gerrymandered out of existence<\/a>) to the Senate.\u00a0 Crockett has tasted the ambrosia of power and the wealth that comes with being a member of Congress, and has thus succumbed to its blandishments early in her career.<\/p>\n

Once the domain of higher elected office, the trickle-down effect has now reached local levels, most notably at the school board levels.\u00a0 Making national headlines seemingly on a weekly\u00a0 basis, the Loudoun County, Virginia, school board has inserted itself into local affairs encompassing transgenderism, Title IX, and at times the misappropriation of funds.\u00a0 Housed in an impressive building with modern electronics, wood paneling, and a host of advanced features, one might understand why someone might want to run for school board.<\/p>\n

\"LCPS

The LCPS Administration building at 21000 Education Ct, Ashburn, VA 20148<\/p><\/div>\n

Completed in 2005 at an estimated cost of $26 million, the 200,000 square foot building was partially renovated in 2023 at an additional cost of $4.12 million.\u00a0 Taxpayer money, let’s not forget!\u00a0 So, is the attraction the position on the board, or the building in where one holds court?\u00a0 Er, office?\u00a0 And while the average school board member earns only about $20k per year for a part-time job, the superintendent makes about $425k a year<\/a>, plus a $20k yearly bonus.<\/p>\n

A new breed of office-seekers has arisen mostly due to the rise of the Internet and social media:\u00a0 The “attention whores.”\u00a0 The same Jasmine Crockett mentioned above, has been seen as wanting the attention public office brings more than the responsibility.\u00a0 Podcaster Matt Walsh<\/a> has opined that if she were given a choice between two buttons, the first being “President of the United States” and the second of having 50 million followers on Instagram, she’d opt for the second button without hesitation.\u00a0 Given that when some elected officials open their mouths they reveal their room temperature IQs, that they continue to do so rather than slink away suggests they enjoy the publicity more than the public embarrassment.<\/p>\n

It may be too early to tell, but even Donald J. Trump may not be immune.\u00a0 A billionaire, Trump does not need the salary of the president (which is less than the Superintendent of Loudoun County’s School Board!) and in fact, donates it to veterans causes.\u00a0 A CEO several times over, one might assume he doesn’t lust for power.\u00a0 However, being in command of the world’s greatest military and having world leaders look to him for advice and guidance (as well as support), could be swinging the pendulum.\u00a0 In the sense of this discussion, Trump is a cypher.<\/p>\n

\"Groucho

Cigar smoking, painted-on-mustache comedian, Groucho Marx<\/p><\/div>\n

Groucho Marx once said he didn’t care to belong to any club that would have him as a member.\u00a0 It’s no wonder he never ran for office.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EVERYONE WHO SEEKS PUBLIC OFFICE PURPORTS TO DO SO seeking the “public good.”\u00a0 Whether they wish to right an injustice, Improve the lot of the poor, hungry and homeless, or stand up to oppression, they take to the stage with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1058,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}