Raise Congressional and Presidential salaries through the roof!

[gulliver]

If we want Democrats elected again, we need to make the leadership jobs interesting to highly talented people. Right now all the money is in Republican politics due to legal and illegal corruption. To equalize the playing field, we need to make leadership jobs pay the kind of money (perhaps a little less) that corruption pays. If corruption were priced out of the market, the Republican Party's current lock on virulent corruption would fade, and the Dems would end up with better players.

Think about it. What is the pay model for Democrats? They fight tooth and nail to get elected over corruption-backed Republican opponents. Then, once they are in, they have to leave their homes for extended periods, fight constantly against corruption-backed Republicans, and topping it all off, they get paid a pittance. Once they are out of office, Dems have a much harder time moving into the corporate honey pot jobs and corrupt businesses than Republicans. Again, those jobs and businesses are part and parcel of the corrupt pay package currently targeted at Republicans.

To rectify this, simply raise the salaries of leaders. I suggest $2 million/year for Representatives, $5 million for Senators, and $20 million for the President. It might seem like a lot, but it is chicken feed compared to the hemorrhage of tax money caused by Republican corruption. The cost (about $1B per year) would be made up in one day.

Think about it. The Dems would suddenly attract not only the stoic and good-hearted, but the talented, stoic, and good-hearted. Republican leaders would no longer need to consist purely of the corrupt and those willing to look the other way. Sure, there would still be a pay advantage for Republican corruption, but here is the kicker: Dem ideas naturally appeal to the highly intelligent. Get rid of pittance pay scale, and you will get genius Democrats in office. There are no genius Republicans. Ergo, Dems would run the place.

[LynneSin]

1. They tried raising the salaries for Pennsylvania politicians

and a slew of them got the boot in 2005 because of it

[harlinchi]

3. Actually PA politicians tried to raise their salaries for themselves.

And they tried to do it secretly, in the middle of the night -- literally!

[gulliver]

4. Exactly. Make the pay raise effective for the next Congress.

Then some really sharp Dems might decide it's a worthwhile job, and we can throw some of the current bums out. If we start throwing out bums and jerks, we'll lose a few Dems, but it would be a Republican bloodbath.

Right now, what is there to make the job of Congressman attractive? Pay? Nope. Long term career prospects? Nope. I'm talking about pay commensurate with the size of the influence they wield. It's a little out of the box, and a little tongue-in-cheek.

I would love to see the argument. The Dems boldly suggest a pay raise "to counter-balance corruption in the other party." It's an interesting attack on the current state of Republicanism. Take it for granted that the Republicans are irredeemably corrupt and propose a big pay raise as the solution.

[undergroundpanther]

2. They take salary cuts

When they do not tell the truth,uphold the Constitution or favor corruption or cronyism.

I don't think the pigs care about another paltry million or two they want the POWER and CONTROL. These pigs make money ELSEWHERE the government job is for POWER and making their profits soar in the private sector after they get out of office. I suggest people make the government offices unable to be occupied by ANY person who is a millionaire,a lobbyist, a Ceo or church pastor/preacher.Eliminate the conflicts of interest by eliminating the kinds of people who would exploit power for their particular interests.Do not allow rich people(who make a million or more) to run for or hold government seats. Do not allow overly religious ideologues(preachers pastors (culture war instigators) or the people that are too supportive of the more immoral parts of the philosophical fringe by their votes and views of governance and attitudes twords the people( as in Straussians or Machiavellian fans) to run the govt.Get the church(all of them),globalists,banks,Industrialists, and corporations OUT of OUR govt.

[karynnj]

8. In today's dollars you would eliminate many good former Presidents from

running. JFK, FDR for two. In the last election - Dean, Kerry, and Edwards would likely all be eliminated. (By 2008, I assume Clark would be too - if he wasn't in 2004). Kerry oddly would have qualified for most of the years he was in the Senate when he was one of the poorest Senators.

Both of my Senators would be eliminated; Lautenberg, son of imigrants, started a business and became rich - so he was both a CEO and a millionaire. Corzine, started out in the middle class and became extraordinarilly wealthy. Both of them vote for those with less - very liberal.

Father Drinan, a Jesuit priest, was one of the best anti-war congressmen until the church made him leave office. Do you think his being their was bad? Former Sen Danforth this year wrote a great editorial on how radical the RW agenda was - he was a Republican Senator and an Episcopalean priest - is he worse than the average Republican Senator?

There are intentionally very few critereon in the constitution - if the majority of people do not want someone with one of your forbidden attributes, they won't elect them.

You would be ruling out most of the most successful people.

[Doctor_J]

5. One of hate radio's big talking points heading into the 94 elections

was how "The Democratuc Congress has voted themselves a paise raise for 5 straight years". All the Limbeciles were walking around upchucking that little factoid. Well we don't hear that much now, do we?

Fucking hypocrites.

[gulliver]

6. I think we should play off the big, bad idea of a pay raise ...

... to highlight Republican corruption. "Sorry folks. We wouldn't need a pay raise for government officials, but we have to compete with big business. The people, unfortunately, have to buy back their own government. Republican corruption has brought us to this sorry state..."

We don't even have to get the pay raise through. If we use it to point out that our government has been bought out from under us and we need to try something (even buying it back!), then we have pointed out the heart of Republican darkness.

What's alternative? Propose new laws against Republican corruption? How do we write a law against the kind of multi-generational corruption represented by the Bush family "government/business?"

[Clark2008]

7. Not all talented people make a buttload of money.

For one thing.

And, for another, raising Congressional salaries would cause more hatred toward that body than make anyone want to run for it.

Besides, with their free health care for life and their pensions, it's already more attractive than 80 percent of other professions.

[gulliver]

9. That's true. But if you care about your family, work in ...

... the government is a bad proposition right now. I'm just arguing for a level playing field for the people. We can legally pay our leaders more than the Republican corruption machine can get away with.

I know that not all talented people make a lot of money, but a lot of the really, really talented people do in fact make a lot of money. They might even consider public service if it didn't mean a hideous pay cut and tons of abuse. Republicans can have their cake and eat it too (legally or illegally). Then can take jobs as leaders and peddle their influence before and after public service. Dems have a much harder time doing that, because they oppose the very industrial factions (oil, military, old wealth) that can provide post-public service lucre.

I'm not saying we should raise their pay quietly. I'm saying we should raise it loudly with the express purpose of "buying back our government" from corrupt business interests. It's both a stunt and a nod to an accurate and sad fact: Americans get a corrupt government because the big money has bought one party, the Republican party, and wired it into the job by hook or crook.

Anyway, I do know the politics of pay raises. I'm suggesting a new angle on it. Use it to have a debate about whether the government should be bought by unethical business and money interests.

If you don't pay people what they are worth, you get crooked people who line their pockets unethically. It's part of the engine driving the Republican power machine. We need to throw a wrench into it.