RIP President Ford

I'm currently involved in a debate with someone who feels that Ford received a "kings salary" as a pension for a benign presidency.

Let's forget for a moment that Gerald Ford was president during one of the most difficult periods of our history. He followed Nixon and had the wise inclination to pardon him, thus taking away the possibility that the nation would become embroiled in bitter partisan hearings. We needed to heal, Ford realized this but admitted that pardoning Nixon was the hardest thing he had ever done. It did, however, allow us to move past Watergate and move forward instead of staying emmeshed in the deeds of a madman.

But Ford served 25 years in Congress and as Vice President before taking the fate of the US in his hands. 25 years. That's not a small amount of service.

For his efforts he received a pension of around 250,000 a year.

I doubt any "king" would survive on that.

Sometimes self centerness and self pity takes away our ability to be objective. Someone who wants so badly to be unique and out of the norm instead becomes bitter and greedy which is what I believe to have happened regarding this particuliar view.

Ford served the US wisely and for many years. The fact that we did not dissolve into a stalemate of partisanship says his term was not "benign" in any way.