Why would rich successful men want to hold public office?
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I really don't get it. Lets take NYC's mayor Michael Bloomberg for example. He's worth $22billion and takes in no income as NYC's mayor. My question is....why would he want that added stress? He doesnt even seem happy as the Mayor.
Mitt Romney is worth $250milliion and has a very successful company. Why would he want the the extremely stressful position as the POTUS?
I really don't get it. Lets take NYC's mayor Michael Bloomberg for example. He's worth $22billion and takes in no income as NYC's mayor. My question is....why would he want that added stress? He doesnt even seem happy as the Mayor.
Mitt Romney is worth $250milliion and has a very successful company. Why would he want the the extremely stressful position as the POTUS?
I would suggest that it is out of love for their country. None of the above posters seem to think so. They all think that it is a desire of self interest. To enhance themselves. That says something about the American citizen at this time in history.
Even Obama cares about America. Even though he is an idiot, and going about it the wrong way.
There are many millionaires who will never run for office.
Romney and many others have ran for office. Money doesn't dictate a person's sense of duty to the country.
If you thought that you had an opportunity to make America better, would you take that next step and rise to the occasion? Many military men and women have. It is out of love for country.
When you consider that this is a capitalist country, enabling job creators to create jobs would be one of the best things that a President could encourage. Through business friendly policies.
Enacting such policies shows compassion for the American people. To do good by the American people is why some people run for office.
There are wide disparities in income from one candidate to another. That shouldn't make one candidate's motives suspect. If Obama had more money than Romney, Democrats wouldn't even bring it up. One poster said that someone from the Middle Class should be considered for POTUS.
Well, there are some who have risen from poor to middle class, and have a tremendous love for this country. Marco Rubio comes to mind.
Class warfare is BS and the Democrats are to blame for it. Hope and change and UNITY?
If you were rich, would you still care about this country? I think you would.
I really don't get it. Lets take NYC's mayor Michael Bloomberg for example. He's worth $22billion and takes in no income as NYC's mayor. My question is....why would he want that added stress? He doesnt even seem happy as the Mayor.
Mitt Romney is worth $250milliion and has a very successful company. Why would he want the the extremely stressful position as the POTUS?
The problem is that people vote for those people, who obviously have their own agenda, which doesn't necessarily match that of the vast majority of society. Basically getting voted these days is about legally buying votes...
Anyway, being president etc. is an honor, it is not supposed to benefit the person. You are allowed to serve society.
It's also why so many political wives stick with their husbands even after they've been exposed as cheatin' dogs. The wife doesn't want to give up her position of being next to power and having a certain amount herself.
Hillary couldn't give a crap about half of the population. She is one of those people who wants to push others around. Her Progressive ideology is what matters to her.
She had to take her current position because of the last election.
But she is a tyrant who is hoping to be unleashed. America would do well not to let that happen.
Most women would have told Slick Willy to go to Hell. Not the Democrat Diva. Power is the game for her. She just wishes he hadn't got caught.
She is every bit what Obama is -- push legislation down the throats of Americans, whether they like it or not. She tried to push National Healthcare, and failed, while her husband was President. Remember?
Now Hillary thinks that apologizing for America and covering up terrorist attacks is the way to go, just like Obama. She is a liar.
Hillary couldn't give a crap about half of the population. She is one of those people who wants to push others around. Her Progressive ideology is what matters to her.
She had to take her current position because of the last election.
But she is a tyrant who is hoping to be unleashed. America would do well not to let that happen.
Most women would have told Slick Willy to go to Hell. Not the Democrat Diva. Power is the game for her. She just wishes he hadn't got caught.
She is every bit what Obama is -- push legislation down the throats of Americans, whether they like it or not. She tried to push National Healthcare, and failed, while her husband was President. Remember?
Now Hillary thinks that apologizing for America and covering up terrorist attacks is the way to go, just like Obama. She is a liar.
How do you know that she wants to push people around? How do you know what she wishes? How do you know what she thinks? I suspect you have issues with women in general and especially successful women.
I think it's a power thing. Being in control of a large and successful company is one thing but to run the country is quite another. I'm not completely cynical and I think some of them do it out of a spirit of public service but a lot of them want the power and prestige that comes with it.
It's quite a bit more complex than simply seeking "power" ... because money already equals power, and mega-wealthy individuals .... those in the Billionaire club, are already very powerful, irrespective of holding some "public office". In fact, holding public office itself actually does not offer an extension of real power .... it's only a perception of power falsely believed to exist by the public.
In order to understand this, one needs to set aside their perceptions of how they think the world operates, because the general perceptions are just wrong. These perceptions are all based on here-say, and nothing more. We've all been "told" to believe certain things, and that's precisely what we believe, simply because there is no reason to believe anything else.
A good analogy would be to look upon the world in terms of the US Navy, and it's structure. Let's take a Naval vessel and the command structure .... you've got the basic enlisted crewmen, and the progressive ranks all the way up to the Captain or Commanding Officer, and the next in position of power on board is the Executive Officer or XO. To everyone aboard that ship, the CO and the XO are like the President and Vice President ... they are the guys to whom everyone answers to. They possess the supreme power onboard, with many levels of lesser powers delegated down the command structure. To the general crewmen, they need not concern themselves with any other details about power, because they have their command structure to obey. But that does not mean that the CO & XO of that particular ship are not just as subordinate to those above them. This vessel may be a a small Cruiser or Frigate .... while just a small portion of an overall larger armada or fleet of vessels, each one of those other vessels commanded by officers of even greater authority in the overall scheme. This may be an aircraft carrier group, where the CO of the carrier vessel is the highest ranking, highest authority CO among a dozen or more vessels and their respective CO's. Of course, even that aircraft carrier CO, answers to an authority higher in the chain of command ... such as the Chief of Naval Operations, Pacific Fleet. Follow me?
Well, the world works in a similar, though not exact same structure. We citizens of the United States deem the President as the Commanding Officer .... the "Commander-In-Chief" .... the most powerful guy in government, and the civilian official who is command of all of our military ... not just the Navy .. but ALL of that military, yet that does not mean that he sits atop the power pyramid ... in reality, his position is far more symbolic than powerful, whereas the real reins of power are held by those who control the finances ... theoretically, that entity would be the US Congress ... who do not "answer" to the president. This arrangement, constitutionally, is a "shared power" between the Executive and the Legislative branches. But just like the Navy ... everyone answers to someone ... even Admirals. Even the Chief of Naval Operations, Pacific Fleet, has a boss who gives him orders to follow. And that is true of the President and Congress, also ... contrary to what most people believe.
In truth ... the Chairman of the Federal Reserve ... which is supposedly appointed by the President (and one would think subordinate to the president, since that's who appointed him) holds more power than the President, but even his power is "symbolic" in the sense that he is just the intermediary between the Federal Reserve Board, and the President of the United States. He in fact simply follows the orders given him .. not orders given by the President, but orders originating from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. THEY are the ones who control the monetary system, and no one holds greater power than they do. If the Federal Reserve Board chose to .... they could raise interest rates to 35% tomorrow morning, and the entire country would financially collapse ... and there would be nothing that the congress or the president could do to stop that collapse, except beg the FED not to do it. Keeping that in mind, can you contemplate the level of power that extends to the Federal Reserve Board over government policies? This power is immeasurable .... and it was just that power which convinced the congress and the president to issue the "bailouts" to the large financial institutions. They had no choice, in spite of the opposition by the public to whom the congress and president are supposed to answer to. But that's just not true ... it's an illusion. And the FED's power here was exercised in very politically veiled language .... these so called financial experts told the congress and president that a major financial catastrophe would surely occur if they failed to act and provide those bailout funds. What was really going on here was "extortion". The veiled threat was, "if you don't pass the law that gives these Trillions to our banker buddies, there will be a financial catastrophe that results" .... and given the FEDs power to create that catastrophe, the congress and president fully understood the message. Funny thing is ... even the Federal Reserve Board of Governors answer to someone else.
So, with of of that taken into account .... the various positions of political office, be it mayor Bloomberg, of Governor Romney ... or whom ever .... are just jobs in the greater organization .... the club, if you will, has many members and each have their own assigned obligations to the organization, just like each crew member of that Naval vessel have their duties and obligations. This also holds true in the corporate world, just as it does in government. In fact, many of our government officials and corporate executives trade places from time to time .... high level officials at the FDA often go to or come from the very Pharmaceutical Corporations that they are supposed to monitor and police. It's all connected at certain levels not overtly visible from the outside.
As someone mentioned (and I haven't really checked the figures because it's really irrelevant), Bloomberg being worth 22 Billion dollars .... and the question of the OP ... why would such a wealthy person even bother himself to seek the "responsibilities" of Mayor when he has that much money ... this is your answer. It's his job ... his assigned responsibility to serve that role in the greater organization which issues him his marching orders.
The reality is, who really knows if Bloomberg actually is worth 22 Billion Dollars? That too is here-say .... and just what we are told. He may have 22 Billion Dollars he is "in charge of" ... but, just like everyone else, he's got a boss too, and the majority of that money is most likely someone else's. He certainly gets paid handsomely for serving his role in the organization ... but he's just another "spoke" in the much larger wheel, and is no way the actual "hub" or the "axle". He's a spokes-person for the wheel, just as the President is a spokesperson for the wheel. The wheel determines what is typed on Mr. Obama's teleprompter ...not Obama.
THINK ABOUT IT !
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