...reflection upon money and politics...

Harry Truman was the first President in my memory. It's not that I remember him being in office, but I do remember his frequent interviews with the evening news commentators, who had to trot along beside him on his daily walks.  Harry Truman was a different kind of President. As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

Upon leaving the White House, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves with no Secret Service protecting them. His only retirement income was a U.S. Army pension of $13,507.72 annually. When Congress learned that he was paying for (and licking) his own postage stamps, they granted him an 'allowance' and later increased his pension slightly.

Though Harry was offered numerous and lucrative corporate positions, he declined, saying, "You don't want me. You want the

office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."

On Harry's 87th birthday, he refused to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor, saying, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."  When he died, his only asset was the house he lived in, which his wife had inherited from her parents.

Thankfully, the election in which our nation has been embroiled is coming to a close. Millions and millions of dollars have been spent on the process, which seems to indicate that political offices are now for sale...and that such offices breed both fame and fortune.

Personally, I miss Harry Truman, who, when reflecting upon money and politics observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!"