Meet Rich Labrador

Rich Labrador is a 42-year-old lawyer and Congressman-elect from Idaho. By all accounts, being elected to the House is a noteworthy achievement. But there are two things you should know about Rich Labrador that should scream "problem."

1. Rich Labrador turned down admission at Georgetown over a decade ago because it was too expensive compared to his final option, the University of Washington.

2. Despite being in his 40s and being careful to avoid debt, Labrador still owes "between $15,000 and $50,000 in federal student loans" from 15 years ago.

This will be part of our next generation (or two or three) of leaders: people who are still saddled with student loan debt, people who have been inhibited from purchasing things like houses or planning for retirement because they had to pay beyond the cost to gain a law degree (even at a public school like UW). And Labrador went to law school before the tuition rates became nearly as high as they are today, and since he's been elected to Congress he's obviously not a failure or a "whiner."

Hopefully, having members of the indentured class in power will make positive legislation more likely, so long as they're not of the "I beat it myself, so there's no systemic problem" mindset.