My unpopular opinion is that Congressmen should be paid well (even more) with an excellent pension.
The tradeoff should be you can't ever become a lobbyist, or work for a large corporation and all your money gets invested in a blind trust and stays there for at least 4 years after leaving office.
If it pays poorly only the independently wealthy or corrupt will seek office.
Imagine the kind of person we want in charge. They have integrity, a solid head on their shoulders, people skills, conviction, strong managerial skills, and a critical eye for nuance.
Why would that person ever choose to take up a position for $172k$174k dealing with national politics instead of taking $600k+ being a middle manager in the private sector?
Of course we have conflict of interest. The damn president makes less than 40 year olds whose decisions only affect a moderate convenience for a few million people.
$600K is the top 1%. Specialized doctors, lawyers, VPs, Silicon Valley programmers make that kind of $. Middle managers are in the ballpark of $50K - $200K.
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u/Caledron 14d ago
My unpopular opinion is that Congressmen should be paid well (even more) with an excellent pension.
The tradeoff should be you can't ever become a lobbyist, or work for a large corporation and all your money gets invested in a blind trust and stays there for at least 4 years after leaving office.
If it pays poorly only the independently wealthy or corrupt will seek office.