The Ohio River Wasn’t Elected to Serve the Vice President

The Ohio River Wasn’t Elected to Serve the Vice President

Apparently, when the vice president wants to go kayaking, the Ohio River itself must stand at attention. Reports that federal agencies raised the river’s water level for a private afternoon paddle aren’t just embarrassing — they’re a masterclass in political tone-deafness and self-importance.

This wasn’t a matter of national security. It wasn’t about commerce, flood control or environmental emergency. It was about one person’s weekend plans. And for that, the machinery of government — and taxpayer dollars — were put to work.

Every gallon of extra water, every labor hour from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, every resource diverted from real public needs sent a crystal-clear message: the rules for the powerful are different. If you’re the vice president, rivers rise for you. If you’re a regular Ohioan with a kayak in your garage, you’re left to scrape your paddle along the rocks and hope for rain.

It’s not the first time an elected official has treated public resources like personal property. In 2017, then–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie famously stretched out on a beach closed to everyone else because of a state government shutdown. While ordinary families stared at locked gates, Christie lounged in the sand like a monarch surveying his private coastline. The vice president’s made-to-order river is cut from the same cloth — a casual demonstration that rules and limits apply to the masses, not the elite.

It’s a small act with a big impact on public trust. Ordinary citizens are told again and again that government can’t possibly meet their needs because of cost, complexity or manpower. Yet when a political VIP wants to glide through a scenic stretch of river, those barriers magically vanish. Turns out the Ohio River isn’t too low — it’s just that you aren’t important enough to have it raised.

This stunt isn’t just a waste of resources; it’s a betrayal of the principle that public office is a public trust. Leaders are supposed to serve the people, not bend the landscape to suit their hobbies. If the vice president wanted higher water, he should have waited for rain like everyone else — or paid for the adjustments himself.

America doesn’t need leaders who confuse the public good with personal convenience. The Ohio River belongs to the people of Ohio and Kentucky, not to the political class. The next time the vice president feels like paddling, she should remember: the water level in this country is already high enough — in arrogance.