Relationships. We all have and had relationships – child/parent, parent/child, employer/employee, business partner, caregiver/care receiver, even pet owner/pet. There are many types of relationships, some chosen while some circumstantially imposed.
In most (western) cultures, one’s mate is mutually chosen; there’s dating, courtship, marriage. In other cultures, marriages are arranged, but the intended result is the same, life together with a mate, offspring, rearing, wash – rinse – repeat, generationally. Many chose to join the military (thank you for your service) and proud “lifers” make a career of it.
Some choose a professional or vocational path, financially providing for their needs/wants as well as the needs and wants of their families. Circumstantially imposed relationships include arranged marriages, military conscription, incarceration and, in jobs that are hated, the need to eat, have shelter and afford to live in New Jersey. There are combinations and blurred lines between chosen and imposed relationships, sugar daddy/sugar baby, drug user/drug dealer – but more on that later.
In all relationships, both chosen and imposed, there must be something in it for both sides. Mutual benefit or mutual satisfaction of needs are foundational elements of relationships. I feed, walk, play with and care for my dog – he lets me rub his belly, throw his ball or frisbee and give him treats; it works for both of us.
That brings us to elected officials, their affiliates, associates and handlers. In politics one does not get forced into elected office – encouraged, enticed and cajoled perhaps, but not conscripted.
So, if we start with the baseline of elected officials doing so by choice, we can then move on to their relationship(s). I would like to think that most seeking public offices do so to make the world, state, county or town a better place. That may be true for some, but does it remain that way or are there things that happen? Enter from stage left the hidden but booming voice instructing Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man.
One may start with being a Cub Scout leader, PTA president, Little League coach, school board member, social club president, community activist or just a hand-picked hang-around/groupie in a locale where the powers to be want a loyal (blindly loyal) vote on the council.
But whatever the path, that person now becomes an elected official. They may want to do good but quickly the cocktail parties, lunches, dinners, accolades, appointment/job for their child, niece, nephew or friend kick in. Perhaps simply feeling like “an insider” along with; other contagions from those on high get to them. They start feeling important and that sense of importance is encouraged by the apparatchik.
What started out as a well-meaning and community minded volunteer in chosen relationships becomes a conscript of bonded servitude. For a sense of importance and perquisites one becomes a sub vassal. Thirty pieces of silver start to look like a bargain!
Political Bosses can make or break a person’s political career. Political aspirations can be realized over time through loyalty and service or meteorically satisfied, but expectations can also be denied, deprived and/or ended.
In New Jersey, the absence of the party line has, and will continue to change that dynamic, but old habits die slow and public offices are still filled with liegemen and liege women.
It may be a tawdry stretch to equate these to relationships between a sugar daddy/sugar baby or drug user/drug dealer, but let’s face it, as you move up in politics from Cub Scout leader, Little League Coach, School Board member or other well-intended volunteer the alluvial benefits of public office begin to balance the otherwise unpalatable (or worse) demands that may present themselves.
Just like there’s not always true love between a Sugar Daddy and a Sugar Baby and drug users may not like or trust their dealer, the fact that both sides get something is why there’s a relationship.
So, while the official enjoys the perks of being in the good graces of the party boss, although at the expense of the distasteful (or worse), the boss gets the obedience and loyalty it takes for the boss to do his bidding – contracts, appointments, favors, rewards, control while the recipients of those benefits contribute to the cause by funding the machinery that enables and enriches the boss that maintains the minions.
Wash – rinse – repeat, generationally.
Notice that I have written nary a word about the public, those the officials profess, proclaim and take an oath to serve. I would like to find a way to get to that but would first need to contain my cynicism and perhaps move out of New Jersey.
We are pleased to debut Jeri Bahar, here for the first time, in this OpEd piece.