How Not to Seem Rich While Running for Office
A new generation of entitled politicians may not have struggled much. So they’re stealing from their elders.
.. Candidates have been spinning Horatio Alger stories since the days of Horatio himself, or probably even the days of Great-Great-Grandpa Alger, who for all we know worked his nails to the nub scrubbing the decks of the Mayflower. But politicians of the 20th century were far more likely to have actually struggled than today’s crop — they might have fought wars, grown up during the Depression or at least worked in a family store or on a farm. They were also less likely to have attended college or, if they did, were more likely to have helped pay for it themselves
.. Absent real hardships, modern politicians have simply gotten creative, or at least what passes for creative in the anesthetizing cosmos of cookie-cutter campaign hell. They especially love tales of dishwashing.
.. In the end, Ryan’s point was made and his narrative was driven home: This son of a prominent Wisconsin attorney knows how to wash dishes!