this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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I'm curious as to how being a politician is even a job? Do they get salary? If so, from what? How do they pay their mortgages?
Politicians are almost all paid (some things like city council aren't necessarily paid). Many politicians have "day jobs" they only leave once they reach a level of office where they can live off the pay.
Speaking very broadly, the cutoff is generally "state rep or higher" or "in a big city" where you can lean on politician as your main source of income.
I like how "day job" is in quotes. That makes it seem even sketchier than I originally thought lol
what kind of "day jobs" are we talking about here? Are they in an office?
And yeah, how do they have time to be a politician if they have that day job going?
I've worked with local politicians in office settings, as salespeople (trained a city councilwoman as a saleswoman once), etc. They also sometimes own businesses (a bit of selection bias there because that "plays" really well to the electorate).
Most political jobs that aren't state/federal arent very demanding of time. School board, local government, etc, is generally unpaid/low pay and very much part time. If you can carve a couple nights a week, you can work in local gov.
Ah yeah. The kind of people who already had money to start a business in the first place.
That seems like not nearly enough time to be putting into something that is meant to change how things work. Government is incredibly slow though, I'm aware...
None of this is making them sound.. well better.
Most people start a business via a small business loan, which is surprisingly easy (in my view) to qualify for. You also only need like $50 in my state to register as a business owner.
Lots of relatively poor people own their own business. I ran my own consultancy for a while and I was definitely not rich.
Couple nights a week is plenty when you're on city council for a town of 10,000 people. There aren't that many hearings
Now this is really wild to me. If I walked into a place and tried to get a business loan, I guarantee they'd say no to me REAL quick.
I don't think only rich people own businesses but I think people who are able to be in a place financially where they can get a loan to start a business, are probably better off financially than say, some no body like myself.
Jesus... is that based on locality or? That almost sounds like no one is really doing anything. What do they actually do?
Also I want to add, I have thought about getting into politics and the reason I don't is the reasoning behind these questions. I can't imagine having a job and doing this but really only doing it like politics are my hobby and hearings are my little meet ups.
It's definitely by locality, but keep in mind that basically as a matter of course there will always be a shitload more small localities than large. Thus, most politicians aren't paid much. Lots of localities have city councils that yeah, are basically meetups. They'll literally meet in kitchens and shit. I had an embarrassing moment at a state rep dinner at my aunt's house where I didn't silence my phone and my ringtone was hilariously inappropriate. Politics can be extremely local, and I think that's a good thing, even if I personally think it does fuck up a lot of small towns
The numbers can be a touch misleading, since there are a large number of larger towns and cities that do have paid representatives, because the country is absolutely enormous and there are "major" cities everywhere. There are a lot more politicians than you'd think if you really get granular.
Also the key aspects of a business loan are
1: some form of collateral
2: a solid business plan
You bring those things and you can probably start a business.
ah! found it!
I'm someone who doesn't have a form of collateral to give and I assume that there are other people in my poor people group who also lack this and would be unable to start a business of any kind.
In fact, that means a lot of people in the city I live in are unable to start a business.
So it definitely does point to a certain class of people that can start a business and those of us who can't.
I'm definitely going to look into how many hearings are had where I live.
I mean you can start a business without a business loan. I started my LLC with $50 and some cold calls.
You should get involved! Run for office! Volunteer on campaigns! We need more people participating in the process on a local level.
The thing is, if I do that - I won't have a place to live afterwards. My rent is going up $45 in a few months. I currently make $36 an hour and they're talking about paying me more and putting me on salary.
I do want to be more involved but it really seems blocked off for regular people who have to have full time jobs. Without my full time job I'm pretty much fucked.
Starting a business involves a lot of risk. Some people dive in, some people (like me) start it as a side gig.
If it's your dream, work incessantly toward it and you'll get there.
oh yeah, its not really my dream lol
I'm more interested in just making changes in general but government of course stands in my way.