Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle, not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity. – Wendell Phillips
Three weeks later. February 22, 1989. A follow-up column to Is This A Democracy Or What?
Thirty years later, I only now just noticed my column had been moved to page 3.
We’ve Only Won The First Round
I was sitting in Delilah’s – “the office,” Norma Louise calls it – working. I was wondering what might interest YOU this week, and Barker Ajax plopped down without so much as a I-beg-your-tutu and nearly knocked over my fourth cup of coffee. He thrust the New York Times in front of my face.
“Look at this!”, he exclaimed. “Isn’t it great?”
I read: “Bush Seeks to Tie Military Budget to Rate of Inflation in Next Year.” Hell, that’s over $12 billion more per year.
“No, not that. The next one. ‘Pay Increase Plan Killed In Congress.’ We did it. We won.” Barker can be so naive sometimes. I try to be careful with his feelings.
“You know,” I said, “occasionally you display all the political savvy of Pee-Wee Herman.”
He was clearly crestfallen “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you should view this success as a victory, but as the first step in a long journey.”
“Well, I think we showed Congress that they can’t run roughshod over us. I think we proved this country is a democracy. I think We The People spoke – loud and clear – and we were heard.”
“That’s nice, Barker, and I’d be the first to agree if I hadn’t watched how the whole thing went down. Congressional behavior could only be described as petulant, and the whining was unseemly. They got caught with their hands in our pockets and, of course, it was everybody else’s fault. Chicago Democrat Dan Rostenkowski was quoted as saying ‘the bashing that we have received in the press over this issue demeans us, it demeans all public servants.’ He’s talking about me, and I don’t feel guilty.”
“I can’t believe they said that.” Barker was incredulous. “You didn’t try to give yourself a 51 percent pay raise without a recorded vote, you didn’t…”
I interrupted him. “And I didn’t walk a mile in the moccasins of a senator, a third of whom, by the way, are millionaires. But I’ll tell you one thing. About the time people start accusing me of demagogic behavior and labeling me a rabble-rousing Morton Downey Jr. clone, somebody’s got trouble. Somebody is going to hear from me about the time a certain Tuesday in 1990 rolls around.”
“I lost you there,” Barker said.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “That’s just what I mean, when I say our defeat of the governmental salary increase was just the beginning of a long cattle drive. The whole deal was badly handled from day one and the time for healing is now. People lost their temper, mistakes were made. Leaders are on the edge and so are the led. That’s the bad news. The good news is I think all parties concerned are willing to listen, to negotiate, to compromise.”
“You really believe that?”, Barker questioned, as if our relationship was predicated on a history of prevarication.
“Look, let’s face it. We don’t trust Congress, right? A lot of us don’t anyway. And why is that? Because they have let us down too many times. They have too often done the wrong thing at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. And what do you think they think of us? Most of us don’t vote. Most of us don’t seem to care. Most of us only get excited when the media makes a fuss about something as easy to understand as a gargantuan pay grab without a vote.”
“You could be right.”
“Well, and maybe I’m not. But where is all the protest about the deficit, or the defense budget, or nuclear power plant safety, or AIDS research, or….”
“Or crime right here is Portland,” Barker stopped for just a breath. I see what you mean. We have their attention now. We have the opportunity to establish a, umm, meaningful dialogue. Call me crazy, but we might even be able to turn things around.”
“I’ll call you optimistic,” I replied. “Look, Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer said, from a swanky resort retreat sponsored by lobbyists, and I quote, ‘I think Congress is frustrated with trying to answer to an angry public and an insatiable press. At some point, people get tired of being looked upon as thieves and greedy folks.’ That’s what he thinks. And what I think is that the public gets tired of beings treated like idiots and fools.”
“Amen,” Barker offered. “Of course, a lot of times we act like we are.”
“And just as often our legislators don’t get the job done.”
“That’s for certain.”
“I’d like to see one of those Congressmen – who thinks he truly deserves more money – introduce a bill which would grant a raise for the next Congress. I think the people could support legislation that doesn’t give Dick Nixon a $55,000 increase in his pension. I think we could get behind a law that doesn’t allow an inactive ex-chief justice a $65,000 raise.”
Barker had a suggestion or two of his own. “Right. They should treat their salary structure separately from judges and the executive branch. And they should do away with that so-called bipartisan commission, which I trust even less than Congress. And they should get rid of the honorarium travesty right now. They wanted us to give them a raise, then they’d get rid of those ill-disguised payoffs by interest groups. Well, I say, get rid of the dishonoria, and we’ll give them a raise afterward. I’d increase their pay to match the outside income they’d be giving up. At least.”
“Those are all good ideas,” I agreed. “Look, I never said Congress didn’t deserve a pay hike. Just not 51 percent, not now, and absolutely not without a public vote. All I’m asking is that our leaders remember who’s paying the bills around here, and that they show us a little respect.”
“Sure. Treat us right, we’ll do the same for them. Politicians, of all people, should be able to grasp that concept.”
“Hey, did I tell you one reader suggested we give Congressman a small base salary, then bonuses based on performance?”
“Geez, Jack,” Barker was pondering the possibilities. “We could make it really worthwhile for them to do their jobs. For example, if they balance the budget, we could pay them each $1 million, tax free.”
“They’ll never go for it,” I told him.