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Comment
It is a safe bet to argue that powerful humans have re-enforced their power with patronage from the day that the first beast we can call human appointed an assistant to do its will. From that moment until now, patronage assistants have helped leaders - from head caveman of history to the Kings, Prime Ministers, Presidents and all executives of all types today.
Patronage has to do with assembling power, of pulling power of other individuals to the person in charge. It is also a gift or favor to person granted the patronage. The mere name - patronage - based in the concept of a father or male at the head of a group - such as a Pope over the Roman Catholic Church - or a man at the head of a tribe who exerts his power as a father - illustrates the power position.
In short - there are few processes in governing more pervasive that the art of patronage - granting gifts or rights to a person in return for loyalty and service. The negative side is full of things that do not go right - however useful other aspects of patronage can be.
This page in the Presidential-Appointments.org site is a continuing exploration of this process.
Loyalty to the Patron
While doing good work for the executive appears to be of first importance, historically loyalty to that executive is the most important duty. In the United States, the nature of our government has more and more often demanded loyalty to the Nation and the People. (That general trend got the recent Bush Presidency in trouble when appointees were often more loyal to religious and political party issues than to the interests of the Nation. An example was the appointee application of Christian dogma to scientific data when scientific documents were edited to eliminate references to anything older that the Christian date of creation put at about 6500 years ago.)
As humans evolved, archeology tells us they were social - operating in small groups or tribes which had some members more dominant than others. Even at that stage - territorial control was important to managing access to hunting grounds and food. Those dominant individuals were essentially early executives that demanded loyalty and assistance in managing the group and providing food. They used and protected those faithful to their management of a territory - fighting or expelling - those who were not loyal and faithful.
Nepotism
Nepotism is universally defined as giving preference to family members - blood lines, in-laws, children - as long as there is a connection some sort of a lineage or blood relationship. However irritating it was to others - use of this class of individuals for patronage purposes has been at the core of appointments historically as far back as history goes.
There are specific statutes in the United States and many of the individual states and regulations in specific agencies that prohibit appointments or other government participation with relatives. In general, they work in terms of the specific current definition of nepotism. The problem is close appointments outside the letter of the law which look a lot like nepotism.
This situation arises when we add close relationships to the list of nepotism appointments and favors. Live-in partners, civil relationships, close same-sex relationships are examples of these issues. The active and voluminous amount of press information on these subjects makes all of this very obvious. As a nation we need to expand the historic concept of nepotism in some form to get these relationships out in the open and managed the same way nepotism appointments have been managed. Those connections present all the practical and political issues pure nepotism appointments provide.
Patronage as a Factor in the Military (in edit)
Establishing the Territorial Imperative (in edit) |
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TAKIN' CARE OF MAMA!
 12-06-09 - Baucus - in a statement of unique candor - said he is glad the nomination of his girlfriend failed so he could sleep with her in Washington all the time rather than just home in Billings. Wow! Max Baucus, Senior Senator from Montana and lead man on the Senate Health Care legislation sent his girlfriend's name to the White House to be United States Attorney for Montana.
Considering the problems of Senatorial nepotism - she bailed out and took a big appointment in the Justice Department - and - AHA! - another dose of nepotism. The Senator hooked up with his staffer while in a divorce action with his now ex-wife. 12-5-09
BAUCUS PATRONAGE ISSUES LIGHT UP A MESS!
Senator Baucus of Montana nominated his bedmate - a qualified lawyer - to be US Attorney from Montana. He is getting a lot of static because of his high profile - but no ethics discipline for it. All this raises issues of Senatorial prerogative - "holds" - patronage - lots of political hanky-pank - most of it in place starting in the late 1790's.
Ultimately - the real issue is a contemptuous public opinion - and voter's incapacity to do anything about it. This sort of "presumptive" power by Senator's does not enhance their respect among the citizens. They end up appearing like a self-centered, phony, unlawful crowd. 12-08-09
Lobbyists Lookin' for Work!
In 1972, the Congress created citizen "Advisory Committees" across the government. There is something over 1200 of them at the moment, and even the GAO openly admits to not being sure about where they all are in government.
The number of openings goes as high as 60,000, but they are created on a more or less individual basis by agencies and various parts of the Federal Government. "Citizen" was the operative work in the idea. Over the years, many of the positions have been held by Lobbyists - paid representatives of specialized interest groups of various sorts - hardly citizen representatives envisioned by the original legislation that created them.
The President has decided to block lobbyists from the those committees starting immediately. This is a huge decision in returning the government to the people. 12-01-09
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