the.com/patronage
Loyalty rewarded with jobs, not merit — democracy's oldest side hustle.
means Support, money, or favor given to someone — or the system of handing out jobs and contracts based on connections rather than qualifications.
from From Latin 'patronus' — a protector or defender, the word for the powerful Roman who looked after his 'clientes' (clients) in exchange for loyalty and favors. That root also gives us 'patron' and 'pattern' (via the idea of a model to be copied). By the time it settled into English in the 1300s, 'patronage' carried both senses still fighting inside it today: the dignified art of sponsoring artists and causes, and the grubbier business of doling out jobs to the faithful — a tension baked in since the Roman patron first expected something back.
- origin
- from patron, as in protector with favors to dispense
- peak era
- 19th century US spoils system ran entire governments
- reform
- Pendleton Act 1883 made federal jobs merit based
- still alive
- judgeships, ambassadorships, and party loyalty never went away