Missouri’s Kit Bond Shows Why Politics Has No Soul

-By Warner Todd Huston

Missouri’s Kit Bond is a perfect example of why regular Americans hate, hate, hate politicians and politics. It’s because Bond and his ilk prove to many that politicians are nothing but money-grubbing liars.

Duane Lester of The Missouri Torch gives us the perfect example of this cynical example of the worst in politics with the story of Kit Bond’s 180 degree flip flop on expanding Medicaid made only because his new position as a lobbyist brings him boatloads of money.

Kit Bond was a Republican Senator from the State of Missouri and in 2010 he was 100 percent against expanding Medicaid in Missouri. He called the idea “horrific.”

In an interview, then Senator Bond said, “Most state budgets are strapped. States are fighting hard to deal with the budget shortfalls they have, and that Medicaid burden is another pail of water on drowning state budgets.”

But flash forward to 2014 and that same man is now telling the Missouri legislature that expanding Medicaid is a great idea.

So what has changed between then and now for Kit Bond? The only thing that has changed is that Bond is now a lobbyist working for a firm hired to push Medicaid expansion.

That’s right, the only reason that Bond suddenly thinks the exact opposite about expanding the healthcare program is because he’s now getting a boatload of money to say so.

This makes one wonder: is Kit Bond lying about his true feelings now because he wants to be made rich by his lobbyist pals? Or was he lying before just because he wanted to get re-elected. What does he really think about Medicaid? And, does it even matter if his opinion can be wholly reversed just by handing him a stack of money?

This is why people discount all politicians. They all appear to be money grubbing liars with no principles at all, people who are swayed not by logic, good arguments or public service but who will throw away all principles just because people pay them to do so.

Now, I know many politicians personally and many of them are standup folks, people who do have principles that they won’t sell out. But people like Kit Bond give them all a bad name.

Here is that interview where Bond said that expanding Medicaid was “horrific.”



Copyright Publius Forum 2001