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In article ,
says...
On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 14:07:21 -0700, jps wrote:

In article ,
says...
On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 10:24:11 -0700, jps wrote:

In article ,
says...
On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 21:26:53 -0700, jps wrote:

In article ,
says...

If I had been a constituent of this individual and had the necessary
influence, how would you view the use of that influence to jump over
the list to join the National Guard in order to avoid possible combat.

You should consider your blessings and make the most of the opportunity.
You certainly should not bring shame on yourself or those who used their
influence for such an extreme favor, especially knowing that you had
bumped someone off who was likely more deserving of the position.

Interesting.

How would you describe one person as being "more deserving" than
another in being bumped up the list?

They're more likely to have come by the opportunity honestly.

Allow me to rephrase.

What is the difference between being deserving or not deserving of the
use of political influence to obtain any given result.

There is no deserving. It's a fact of reality that people have
influence.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It's just a matter of degrees.

You said the following to the original question.

"You certainly should not bring shame on yourself or those who used
their influence for such an extreme favor, especially knowing that you
had bumped someone off who was likely more deserving of the position."

I asked how you define more deserving.

One more time - how do you define one individual being more deserving
of influence than another?

That's your construct, not mine. I didn't suggest one was more
deserving based on influence, I suggested that influence is an unfair
leg up that would likely bump someone off who had earned it on their
own. Perhaps I didn't explain it well enough.

Some people have access to influence through circumstance such as family
(unmerited) and some people earn it on their own (merited).

George had a leg up in every circumstance. He's a poster child for the
Peter Principle.

jps