A Real American Success Story

Some of this has been previously published (by me) in early 2016, but the attacks on Mrs. Warren by other candidates last night compel me to edit and repost.   

        It seems that the latest Far Right and now, to an extent, Democratic would be candidates indoor sport is bashing Senator and candidate Elizabeth Warren. Slurs range from Trumps' repeated "Pocahontas" insult, to a new fave, throwing stones at her because she was a highly paid Harvard Law professor before her Senate gig.

       The new slurs go along the line "Warren was paid $430,000 annually for teaching a class at Harvard." This is actually the setup for then wondering how she can claim to represent the economically disadvantaged when she is a "one percenter." For an answer to this ask Bill Gates, LeBron James, Robert Smith, or Warren Buffett. All from simple beginnings, all wealthy now, all immensely generous with their earnings.

        This intimation that having gotten rich makes one unable to identify with those less fortunate is just another dog whistle political ploy, more suited to Donald Trump than to any Democrat. In truth, Trump does exemplify that stereotype, except for one detail – he was born rich, made even richer by a tax cheat father and, yet, has since bankrupted five times. And yes, he has shown little or no real regard for anyone socially disadvantaged unless they represent votes or photo ops.

       As regards Liz Warren: First issue, she was paid in the high three hundred thousands, vice the stated $430,000, the rest coming from paid consulting jobs.  A significant portion of that pay was compensation in the form of a faculty mortgage subsidy and housing allowance. Warren was not a fiscally struggling state legislator when she went to Harvard and the big bucks, but a tenured professor with 34 years of university level Law School Teaching. You know, a real job in a real University, not a real estate scam.

      Warren started her academic career as a lecturer at Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1977, at age 28.  She moved to the University of Houston Law Center (1978–83), where she became Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 1980 and obtained tenure in 1981. She taught at the University of Texas School of Law as visiting associate professor in 1981 returning as a full professor two years later (staying 1983–87). In addition, she was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan (1985) and research associate at the Population Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin (1983–87).

         Early on in her legal career, Warren became a proponent of on-the-ground research based on studying how people actually respond to laws in the real world. Her work analyzing court records, and interviewing judges, lawyers, and debtors, established her as a rising star in the field of bankruptcy law. The vast majority of both houses of Congress, academically, can't carry her undies to the laundry.

       Dr. Warren joined the University of Pennsylvania Law School as a full professor in 1987 and obtained an endowed chair in 1990 (becoming William A. Schnader Professor of Commercial Law). She taught for a year at Harvard Law School in 1992 as Robert Braucher Visiting Professor of Commercial Law. In 1995, Warren left Penn to become Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. As of 2011, she was the only tenured law professor at Harvard who attended law school at an American public university. At Harvard, Warren became one of the most highly cited law professors in the United States. No one, as far as I can determine, has ever cited Trump favorably about anything of real substance, let alone in the area of law! Although she had published in many fields, her expertise was in bankruptcy. Warren's scholarship and public advocacy were the impetus behind the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

        In 2009, the Boston Globe named her the Bostonian of the Year and the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts honored her with the Lelia J. Robinson Award. She was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2009, 2010 and 2015. The National Law Journal repeatedly has named Warren as one of the Fifty Most Influential Women Attorneys in America, and in 2010 it honored her as one of the 40 most influential attorneys of the decade

       In 2009, Warren became the first professor in Harvard's history to win the law school's The Sacks–Freund Teaching Award for a second time. In 2011, she delivered the commencement address at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark, where she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

        In debates, some have mentioned Warren’s Harvard salary — tax returns (which we have seen, as opposed to “you know who”) show it was close to $350,000 her last full year — as a negative and criticized her teaching workload. Harvard Law professors spend, on average, five hours a week in the classroom, with the bulk of their time reserved for research, writing, student advising, and administrative tasks. “Professor,” as critics use it, has become a somewhat pejorative title, something less than an honorific — an image conjured of Warren as Harvard elitist, liberal ideologue, scolding schoolmarm.

       In fact, at Harvard, she is known as none of those. Widely admired by students and faculty, she was considered tough but fair, whip smart but warm, inspiring, and accessible. Warren, who is on leave, because she actually shows up for her Senate gig, has won student-nominated teaching awards at four of the five universities where she has taught. As Senator, Elizabeth Warren has missed just 11 of over 1093 roll call votes in her time in the Senate, about 1 %, while Bernie Sanders has missed almost 10%. Not that Bernie is the king of slackers - Marco Rubio has only shown up 7.1% of the time! Based on attendance, Warren is worth a whole lot more than she's being paid, and Rubio considerably less.

        The real reason, of course for the slanderous treatment of Senator Warren, is to attempt to demean and diminish the impact of her advocacy for the financially disadvantaged. I guess the twisted logic is along the lines of "How can she care about the poor when she's so wealthy?" That’s the sort of question more suited to a slavering attack dog like a Trump or Giuliani than any Democrat.

        Here's how; she's been there! Warren was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to working class parents.  She was their fourth child, with three older brothers. When she was 12, her father, a janitor, had a heart attack—which led to many medical bills, as well as a pay cut because he couldn’t do his previous work. Eventually, this led to the loss of their car from failure to make loan payments. To help the family finances, her mother found work in the catalog order department at Sears. When she was 13, Warren started waiting tables at her aunt's restaurant (you know, like AOC but 6 years younger?). So, spare me the "how can she identify with the economically disadvantaged?" drivel! She’s lived it. 

       Warren became a star member of the debate team at Northwest Classen High School and won the title of "Oklahoma's top high school debater" while competing with debate teams from high schools throughout the state. She also won a debate scholarship to George Washington University at the age of 16. Initially aspiring to be a teacher, she left GWU after two years to marry her high school boyfriend.

        Warren later moved to Houston with her husband, who was then a NASA engineer. There she enrolled in the University of Houston, graduating in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology. For a year, she taught children with disabilities in a public school, based on an "emergency certificate", as she had not taken the education courses required for a regular teaching certificate. Again, super creds!

        Warren and her husband moved for his work to New Jersey, where, after becoming pregnant, she decided to remain at home to care for their child. After their daughter turned two, Warren enrolled at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark, still a stay at home mom.  Shortly before her graduation in 1976, Warren became pregnant with their second child. After receiving her J.D. and passing the bar examination, she began to work as a lawyer from home, writing wills and doing real estate closings. Hardly the high life. Her star has risen from there based solely on merit and ability

        So, the next time one decides to slander Senator Warren and chastise her for succeeding in a male dominated profession, one might want to consider that she has risen, not through social position or daddy's money, but by intellect, determination and skill. As a Senator she has already proven herself more than capable in economic policy. I believe her to be the best qualified of all current wannabee Democrats. It is a slight consolation that essentially all the current contestants are far brighter than Donald Trump. Hell, Liz Warren’s daughter has a Wharton MBA, a degree which Trump just couldn’t quite manage.