Take the Pay Cut, Take the Risk, Take the Floor

“No one could understand why anyone in his right mind would give up a $125,000-a-year job at a comfortable and respected firm like Weeden to take a $50,000 position—with the promise of “consideration of partnership,” but no guarantees—at a house like Salomon Brothers, a big leaguer in general but a minor player in my specialty, municipal bonds. But then, some people just don’t understand risk.”

“I would be interrupting a successful career, uprooting my family, and giving up a comfortable and relatively predictable lifestyle for the vagaries of Washington. But my country called, and I was raised in an era when if your country called, be it to fight a foreign enemy or serve in government, you answered the call—with pride and honor and gratitude and respect. If you truly love your country and if you fear for freedom, can you stand by and see the battle lost without joining the fight? Inconceivable.”