I get the idea behind it, but this very much would backfire in that only the rich could become representation. Remember they made it a rule that they aren't allowed to sleep in their office while in D.C., and 60k not only won't afford a place in D.C, it most definitely won't allow for someone to have a home near their constituents AND D.C.

So we would end up with just having first or second sons of oligarchs, 1 trained to run the companies, the other trained to represent their families best interests.

I think the government should switch to a random lottery. Every term a random person is selected from all available and eligible citizens. It would be our civic duty, put your regular job on hold for a few years and do your part.

Most would hate it, but that’s kinda the point. If we all had to eat our own dogfood, we’d eventually start making it taste better.

The idea behind a high salary for representatives is that they don't need to take on extra money from lobbyists to survive. Keep the salaries, but make bribery illegal again and things will get better. Make the salaries low AND get the money out of politics and you'll only get rich people becoming politicians. Oh and term limits should be a thing.

OP has no idea what health insurance cost these days.

I'm sorry who the fuck has a $1000 deductible??? We have decent insurance for the US and the deductible is $7500 each (family plan thru employment)...

I agree on spirit, but in practice this will just make them even easier to be bought.

While this sounds good on the surface, the problem is that requiring legislators to live with the same financial difficulties most of us face would lead to sharp increases in direct bribery and overt corruption. As bad as it is anyway that effectively unlimited campaign/PAC contributions can be used to corrupt them, if their personal finances were significantly more trying, it would be much worse, especially given that most legislators have more personal expenses than the average person, including maintaining resdences in both DC and their home state/district. The much better (but also much, much more difficult) solution would be to raise the incomes of most Americans rather than to reduce the income of the legislators.

I guess the idea of paying them well is that they can't be bought with bribes. Then again, when has any wealthy person ever been satisfied.

No salary, they should be paid hourly at leas than minimum since most of their income is from gratuities.

300 a month and a thousand dollar deductible?!?!

where the fuck is that deal, it’s like 8k deductible and 600 a month

How about this:

We pay politicians in "X times the minimum wage"; for the sake of this example I'll say 30x the minimum wage (too much? Too little? I don't know, that's not important rn)

The thing is, they can't change this number, at all. The only way they can increase their salaries is to increase the minimum wage.

$1000 deductible?? i wish

And they have to work 40 hours a week every week, or they get no benefits... just..like..us.

pretty sure most of them are millionaires, because the billionaire donors are giving them money, in other forms. even with those restrictions, they get millions from the billionaires in thier pockets. Thats why Dinos are fighting just as hard to keep that way.

That would further incentivize their corruption

They weren't ever supposed to represent you, they represent rich white men like they were intended. It's literally designed to favor the rich because literally every single one of the signers of the bill of rights was a wealthy dude, to a man they were middle - upper class and in general criminals at that.

I thought after citizens united they represent corporations not us

The Great Stink 1858 caused by the combination of everyone dumping their refuse into the river Thames and unusually low water levels, was being mostly ignored by the British parliament until the members were forced to return to work in the parliament building close to the river where the smell was at its worst.

I disagree. Low salaries in congress is exactly the kind of thing that gives lobbyists power.

Poor staffers and low paid representatives are more likely to become lobbyists themselves or to take bribes. Congresspeople should be given an ultimatum, they can only serve in congress if they agree to never make income from any other source ever again in their lives… even after one term. In return, they’re guaranteed a modest pension starting when they leave that pays 80% of their current salary (should be a healthy salary), increasing with inflation. They can not trade stocks, accept gifts, or own any form of property except a single residence.

If you want to serve the people, you can only serve the people and not yourself. Congresspeople should be truly selfless individuals.

Pay them 5 million per year for all I care so long as they actually represent the people and not private interest groups, are not currupt, and are some of the best people for the job. And that would be an incredibility good deal.

People can be wealthy and not totally out of touch if they make an effort to listen to people

Salary will have unintended consequences.

Why would anyone choose that job unless they were already very wealthy?

Well then that’s not capitalism.

Tbh idk why people think capitalism is a good thing. It’s just feudalism with corporations.

In the history books when they discuss the hundreds or thousands of small cuts that eventually killed America, Mike Johnson may very well be one of the most prominent captioned photos.

We are long past the point where they represented us.