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Hear me out on this.
Unpopular opinion but term limits are a bad idea and we should pay congressmen enough that it's a desirable job.
With term limits, you would continually have a rotating group of new congressmen. Under the current model freshman representatives look up to colleagues that have been there for a while. I'm not a fan of people that serve their districts for decades but they have a purpose. With term limits, the veteran legislators will only be in office for 4 years at most. Without veteran leadership new congressmen will turn to others for guidance and those people are called lobbyists. With the continual turnover in congress over time the lobbyists would gain more and more power.
As to pay, congressmen make $174K per year. That's a nice check but for DC that goes half as far as it would in rural America. Plus, unless you are in a really safe district almost half your constituents hate you. And heck if you are in a place where your job is safe in the general, in the current climate you are constantly fighting off a hyper partisan idiot in the primary who is forcing you to take an extremist position to keep your job. If I'm in that spot and some lobbying firm calls me saying my 6 years in congress are what they are looking for and $500K per year is their offer, going into the private sector is an attractive option.
I don't want to advocate paying congressmen stupid high amounts of money but they need to be compensated for the bs they have to deal with. And it should be enough to attract bright political minds to the job before they look at unelected or lobbying positions.
Unpopular opinion but term limits are a bad idea and we should pay congressmen enough that it's a desirable job.
With term limits, you would continually have a rotating group of new congressmen. Under the current model freshman representatives look up to colleagues that have been there for a while. I'm not a fan of people that serve their districts for decades but they have a purpose. With term limits, the veteran legislators will only be in office for 4 years at most. Without veteran leadership new congressmen will turn to others for guidance and those people are called lobbyists. With the continual turnover in congress over time the lobbyists would gain more and more power.
As to pay, congressmen make $174K per year. That's a nice check but for DC that goes half as far as it would in rural America. Plus, unless you are in a really safe district almost half your constituents hate you. And heck if you are in a place where your job is safe in the general, in the current climate you are constantly fighting off a hyper partisan idiot in the primary who is forcing you to take an extremist position to keep your job. If I'm in that spot and some lobbying firm calls me saying my 6 years in congress are what they are looking for and $500K per year is their offer, going into the private sector is an attractive option.
I don't want to advocate paying congressmen stupid high amounts of money but they need to be compensated for the bs they have to deal with. And it should be enough to attract bright political minds to the job before they look at unelected or lobbying positions.
I see what you're saying. Then reform the way pac's and lobbyists interact with officials. But something radical needs to change. These people need to be servants again and not act like rulers. Career politicians have no place because they don't have any idea about what it's truly like to be the little person anymore (or at all with some).
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Taxes, healthcare, social media, msm, food production, war, consumer product production, the stock market, regulations, social discourse, the Washington swamp, think tanks, straight party voting, tribalism, energy... the list goes on, if it exists and profit can be squeezed from it, there is a rich, powerful, well connected person at the top of it pulling the strings, if you dont realize that then this world will forever be an enigma to you.
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Dude, that's called progress in a capitalistic world. Would you have the government be responsible for product and service development, regulate the entire commercial chain, and be the sole beneficiary of the wealth created by such?
Sounds like you simply begrudge the successes of the ultra-rich.
Regardless, give us 3 steps to eliminate the supposed power wielded by the oligarchs.
Sounds like you simply begrudge the successes of the ultra-rich.
Regardless, give us 3 steps to eliminate the supposed power wielded by the oligarchs.
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I’m okay if they banned paid lobbying and political donations. But the net result wouldn’t change whatever balance of power you believe needs changing. The ultra-rich would still be the ultra-rich. And our elected officials would still pass laws and vote to keep themselves in office.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_wealth
Yeah... Gonna have a little difficulty convincing us that we should pay them MORE...
Yeah... Gonna have a little difficulty convincing us that we should pay them MORE...
Maybe the wealth generated through speaking engagements and book deals shoots a hole in that part of my argument.
It's one thing to take a job that doubles your salary. It's another to have a 30 minute speech followed by a meet and greet that has the same financial impact. I'd suggest some sort of legislation that limits outside income while in congress or the White House but we both know the odds of that happening.
It's one thing to take a job that doubles your salary. It's another to have a 30 minute speech followed by a meet and greet that has the same financial impact. I'd suggest some sort of legislation that limits outside income while in congress or the White House but we both know the odds of that happening.
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