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Publius · 05-02-2004, 01:55 AM

Hmmm, well what can I say? Truman was somewhat successful later in life, but what I was referring to was the fact that until he got into politics he really hadn’t had much luck doing anything else. And oh sure he wasn’t living hand to mouth by the time he was president, but then again would you really want someone living in that situation running the country? Didn’t think so. But I decided to go look up some numbers on good old Truman here. Now lets see, since their was a census in 1940 I will use those. The average salary in 1940 was about $1,300 and at that time US Senators were paid $10,000. So that is a little less then 8x the average salary in 1940 which is not to shabby. Now lets see, how does it stack up today? Average salary for 2004 is projected to be about $35,500 whereas today Senators are being paid about $154,700 so less then 5x as much. So I guess ol Truman made out pretty good as a senator then didn’t he? Don’t suppose he made quit so much as a judge, but I can’t find that number to be sure. However, my point was this, Truman did grow up dirt poor. Although Truman attempted to break from this mold early on, he didn’t have much success until he finally went into politics in Kansas City, but even then his biggest supporter turned out to be a mob boss which got Truman into a lot of hot water. (If you really want to learn about Truman there is a great program about him on the History Channel)

Ok so here is the question, how long before a fellow becomes President does he have to be “working class poor” for it to count? So a fellow grows up dirt ass poor, works his sorry ass all his life to make something for himself, then when he finally succeeds he decides to give something back to society by running for public office. BUT OH NO! now that he is no longer dirt ass poor he can’t possible represent the small poor working guy because now that he is “rich” he is no longer in touch with the common man. So again I ask, what is “rich” anyway? And why do we pay our elected officials so lousy and then expect anyone but those who don’t really need the income to run for public office? And what does the price of snow in Canada have to do with the cost of sand in Miami? Right so you see my point, NOTHING! It doesn’t matter which candidate has more money, or grew up poorer, or who has the most expensive toys, house, car, or any other garbage. The question really is which one will do the best job of doing the work of the people, and everything else is just noise being used by both sides to distract the voters from the real issues.

Sigh ... so I still maintain that this whole debate is just rather silly, next skit please. (Monty Python reference for those who get it)

05-02-2004, 01:55 AM	#21 (permalink)
Publius Crazy Location: Never Never Land	Hmmm, well what can I say? Truman was somewhat successful later in life, but what I was referring to was the fact that until he got into politics he really hadn’t had much luck doing anything else. And oh sure he wasn’t living hand to mouth by the time he was president, but then again would you really want someone living in that situation running the country? Didn’t think so. But I decided to go look up some numbers on good old Truman here. Now lets see, since their was a census in 1940 I will use those. The average salary in 1940 was about $1,300 and at that time US Senators were paid $10,000. So that is a little less then 8x the average salary in 1940 which is not to shabby. Now lets see, how does it stack up today? Average salary for 2004 is projected to be about $35,500 whereas today Senators are being paid about $154,700 so less then 5x as much. So I guess ol Truman made out pretty good as a senator then didn’t he? Don’t suppose he made quit so much as a judge, but I can’t find that number to be sure. However, my point was this, Truman did grow up dirt poor. Although Truman attempted to break from this mold early on, he didn’t have much success until he finally went into politics in Kansas City, but even then his biggest supporter turned out to be a mob boss which got Truman into a lot of hot water. (If you really want to learn about Truman there is a great program about him on the History Channel) Ok so here is the question, how long before a fellow becomes President does he have to be “working class poor” for it to count? So a fellow grows up dirt ass poor, works his sorry ass all his life to make something for himself, then when he finally succeeds he decides to give something back to society by running for public office. BUT OH NO! now that he is no longer dirt ass poor he can’t possible represent the small poor working guy because now that he is “rich” he is no longer in touch with the common man. So again I ask, what is “rich” anyway? And why do we pay our elected officials so lousy and then expect anyone but those who don’t really need the income to run for public office? And what does the price of snow in Canada have to do with the cost of sand in Miami? Right so you see my point, NOTHING! It doesn’t matter which candidate has more money, or grew up poorer, or who has the most expensive toys, house, car, or any other garbage. The question really is which one will do the best job of doing the work of the people, and everything else is just noise being used by both sides to distract the voters from the real issues. Sigh ... so I still maintain that this whole debate is just rather silly, next skit please. (Monty Python reference for those who get it)