The Leisure to Politic

On the closed downstream thread "Fort Hood" wretchard noted that the unemployed do have the luxury of time while the employed are often limited to contributing a cheque. The argument for aristocratic government was that wisdom comes from having the time to contemplate a situation and the leisure to study subjects like history or theology. That is why Jefferson wanted a government ruled by a Whig ascendency of gentleman farmers supported by sturdy yeomen neighbors. Unemployment may make your time constraints more flexible but it does not fit the needs of conservative political action for, wait for it, three reasons.

1) Effective activity takes money, such as for travel etc.
2) Conservatives do not trust or support the unemployed. It feels like
     having a prostitute offer you counsel on Virtue.
3) Networking to get a job and to advance a cause conflict and more so
     for Conservatives than the Left.

If I had the money I would love to run for office. The fact is that most Republicans around here get 20-30% of the vote. To do it as a vanity project is wasteful. Most candidates are either very young resume builders or retirees with an axe to grind. They put their names out and pray but do not commit the time energy and resources needed to seriously compete. To run for City Council would mean starting now and devoting two years to getting to know every constituent, community group, church, synagogue or temple, with at best one chance in 3 of success if the resources expended are vast. To run for Congress would be even harder and more expensive, easily in the millions, with less probability of victory. And that is despite the fact that large numbers of individuals are repelled by the cynical fraud of the left and would love to hear an appeal to the image of America that they or their parents came to NY believing in.