Concerning the risks attendant upon political ascensions

Abstract

Few politicians, once elected, fail to wonder whether they have a chance at getting elected to a higher office. And this is quite natural, given that no matter how high the jurisdiction to which he aspires, the job skills are essentially the same. What is problematic is the risk of not succeeding, particularly since incumbents have a real edge when it comes to re-election. A number of strategies recommend themselves in these cases and should be employed judiciously.

Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and

have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though

for but one year, can never willingly abandon it.

Edmund Burke

Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791), in The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, Anthony Jay, ed. (Oxford: 1997), p. 67. This is, I can attest, absolutely true, and not only due to the power that comes with the job, not even the emoluments. It is about—as we saw above—being where the action is, where the rules are set.