Reason #14: The White House Hustle - Presidents Cash In on their Offices

Until the advent of the career politician, most of our presidents not only emerged from the private sector, they returned to it again after they finished their terms. In other words, their time in politics was a temporary phase of their lives, not their be-all-end-all calling.

Thomas Jefferson, Millard Fillmore, and James Monroe worked in higher education in their post-White House years. Andrew Jackson and Franklin Pierce went back to ranching. And numerous ex-presidents took up writing. When his time in Washington was up, former President Harry Truman moved back to his modest home in Independence, Missouri-packing his belongings in his Chrysler himself, I might add-and refused numerous offers to lobby for corporations and give paid speeches.

“I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable,” he wrote, “that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency.”

Sadly, Truman’s noble view of the presidency is a thing of the past. Nowadays, our ex-Commanders-in-Chief are all too eager to commercialize the dignity of their former office. Like their greedy colleagues on Capitol Hill who can hardly wait to sign lucrative lobbying contracts after they leave congress, former presidents treat their time on Pennsylvania Avenue as a stepping stone to the big bucks they can make when they “retire.”

Since he left the White House in 2000, Bill Clinton has cashed in on what he does best: talking. He’s made around $40 million with his gift of the gab. Clinton’s speechifying may be more lucrative than any president before him, but it’s nothing new. Ronald Reagan earned $2 million for a couple of speeches in Japan in 1989. His successor, George Bush Sr. commands six figure fees for an hour or so at the lectern.

Bush Sr. doesn’t pull down quite as much as Bill Clinton for his speeches, but he’s still managed to break the bank thanks to his time in the White House. As a “senior advisor” for the Carlyle Group, he’s made millions since leaving office schmoozing with the same foreign leaders and dignitaries that used to come kiss his ring while he was president.

This kind of exploitation of our highest office is outrageous, not to mention debasing. And it’s even more proof that we’re not electing the right kinds of presidents. People throw the word “character” around an awful lot during presidential elections, but it’s obvious from the behavior of our recent commanders in chief that the type of people running for the White House aren’t up to snuff in that department.

NEXT: Reason #15: The Third Party Lockout