It became official today when a former boss of mine announced his retirement. Working in Congress is a very tough job. At this point in time, both elected officials I served under have announced that this is their last term.
One left at the height of power, having served in Congress since I was a toddler. He argued in front of the Supreme Court before I was even born.
The other left while he was on the move up the ranks to spend more time with his family — and I know that to be true.
Truman said that “if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” What is not often reported is the effect that working/serving in Congress has on families and relationships is hard — and there’s a term for it “Hill Widows.” Many people lose their families (kind of like Leo McGarry in the West Wing) and some have their relationships destroyed and personal lives strained working there.
What I learned from these two distinguished gentlemen is that they chose to serve the public, leaving their productive lives in “the real world” for lesser pay, long hours, and often times, the ire and outright hatred of some voters.
Not many people I know would quit something they love doing to get less money, less privacy, and have people in the press/blogosphere say nasty things about them. Not to mention less free time to spend with the ones you love.
Both are true public servants and I wish them the best as they come back to a somewhat normal life.
Frankly, their decisions to retire restored my faith in the system, not that I wanted either to retire. My two former bosses are not alone. Even Rep. Barney Frank (much despised by Republicans) made that decision to retire, as have Senators Lieberman, Conrad, Akaka, Kohl, Webb (after one term!) and Reps. Boren, Cardoza, and Woolsey. For every story you hear about elected officials, like Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd holding onto their seats until their dying day, you never seem to hear the multitude of stories about lesser known members riding off into the sunset. That is unfortunate, since it gives off the perception that members stay there forever and fuels uninformed debate.
While I don’t personally believe in term limits (since we have the opportunity to vote out our elected officials out every two, four, or six years) it is refreshing to know that some in Congress can choose to leave the institution to live a normal life again.
One thing is for sure, even for those who staffed in Congress, once you’ve stepped through the looking glass, life can never be the same.
