Doin' Time

I suppose I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I first stepped onto Capitol Hill, I initiated something of a transformation process. I’ve been working on campaigns since before anyone could be able to take seriously my telling them who to vote for, and I’ve worked in a state level legislature throughout my college career. None of that prepared me for the level of talent and intelligence I was about to come in contact with.

When you tell someone in Ohio you work on “The Hill,” you suddenly receive, though it’s small, a level of respect. You work in politics and you probably know what you’re talking about. Washington D.C. is not quite so reverent. If you’re an intern in the Senate like me, to the average Washingtonian I’ve come in contact with, you probably could not be less impressive. It means you’re doing the easiest work an office can give out, and you’re almost doing it just for the privilege of doing it.

All that said, it’s still a privilege. You have to do your time. It sucks, but even if you fancy yourself the greatest political mind to come out of your mid-sized Midwestern city, chances are you don’t know anything about anything. So if I may impart the small amount of wisdom I’ve picked up in my time here, it’s that the as soon as you realize how much you have to learn, the process of learning becomes incredible.

-Sam Runta