This week MPs return to Ottawa\u00a0to debate the federal budget. One of the central arguments on Parliament Hill in the days and weeks to come will revolve around\u00a0Canadian pension reform. We are told, by way of setting an example that\u00a0MPs are looking at their own gold plated pensions and perks of the job.<\/p>\n
For those MPs pre-occupied with reviewing their own pensions,\u00a0the story of American Harry Truman’s approach to his Office and retirement\u00a0is a stellar example from the past. It is to be expected that MPs will not follow this former U.S. President\u2019s actions; yet, it is hoped they may\u00a0emulate Truman’s\u00a0principles of fairness and his rejection of assumed privilege (or as we have come to know it north of the border – “Dingwall’s entitlement”).<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a tribute \/\u00a0a lament to a past era and a long-since-gone\u00a0breed of politician:<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “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.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Good old Harry Truman was correct when he 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!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week MPs return to Ottawa\u00a0to debate the federal budget. One of the central arguments on Parliament Hill in the days and weeks to come will revolve around\u00a0Canadian pension reform. We are told, by way of setting an example that\u00a0MPs are looking at their own gold plated pensions and perks of the job. For those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[52,35,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3215,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions\/3215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}