He doesn't need to work, but he got himself his dream job as a cop in a small Georgia town. When we look at Thomas Jefferson we have to deal with his flaws by realizing we're all limited by our world views. You have to look at his heroic efforts. The theme of a lot of literature is the tragic flaw. Characters and people who make a heroic effort are probably going to make mistakes too.
Every story needs a protagonist, a hero.
The bigger the flaw, the more interesting a character will develop in response to challenges. One of the things we focus on is how to do better decision-making. Literature is there to learn from other people's mistakes. That's why the classics become classics - they teach the truth of human experience, the good and the bad. She uses Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman as an example of a complex hero.