If the United States ever goes bankrupt, one reason will be that we stopped choosing people like Grover Cleveland.
In 1882, when the city council of Buffalo, New York, sent the mayor a bill to pay for Fourth of July events, it was thought that passing the bill was the patriotic and politically smart thing to do. After all, the money would pay for events that the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a group of Civil War soldiers with a lot of power, was planning.
Most people thought too little of the mayor. He said no to taking the money, and he was happy to take the heat for it. After a year as "the veto mayor," he moved on to become "the veto governor" of the State of New York and then "the veto president" of the United States. He went by the name of Grover Cleveland. When it comes to keeping an eye on the money and saving money for the government, he puts most public officials here and everywhere to shame.
Grover Cleveland
In his recent biography titled A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland, Troy Senik recounts Grover’s message explaining the veto:
[T]he money contributed should be a free gift of the citizens and taxpayers and should not be extorted from them by taxation. This is so because the purpose for which this money is asked does not involve their protection or interest as members of the community, and it may or may not be approved by them.
This was a man who wasn't afraid to set limits on public spending for two main reasons: 1) The government shouldn't be a grab bag of goodies for any cause that someone thinks is "good," and 2) If government spending isn't kept in check, politicians are more likely to buy votes and corrupt the political process.
That all sounds quaint and frumpy in these enlightened times of trillion-dollar deficits. Even more out-of-step with current fashion is what Cleveland did as soon as he issued his veto. Senik reveals,
Cleveland made a personal donation equal to 10 percent of the GAR’s budget request, then deputized the president of the city council to help raise the rest through private funds. In the end, the organization raised 40 percent more than it had requested from the city treasury.
Grover liked pork in meat, but he didn't like it in bills. He once said that he hoped the laws he killed would be remembered more than the ones he passed. He still holds the record for having the most vetoes (584 in total) of any American president in two terms.
Back in Buffalo, where his long list of vetoes began in 1882, Cleveland grilled pork for the public like every day was the Fourth of July. Allan Nevins, whose biography of Cleveland won a Pulitzer Prize in 1948, says that Cleveland "kept up a constant fire" of vetoes:
He vetoed a gift of $500 for the Fireman’s Benevolent Association. He vetoed bills for unnecessary sidewalks, [and] for the unnecessary notices of tax sales…He refused to be good-natured about small matters. He would not wink at little devices for getting public work done without competitive bids, and he had a blunt way of calling attention to all sorts of abuses.
During his first term as president, he was told to stay out of the way and not get too involved in controversial topics. He said, "What's the point of getting elected or staying in office if you don't stand for something?"
If the United States ever goes bankrupt, one reason will be that we stopped choosing people like Grover Cleveland.
Happy Independence Day!
