this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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He's not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.

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[–] Ensign_Crab 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The problem is you don’t pay them very much comparatively and so they take bribes and “gifts” to make up for the salary.

They do this no matter how much money we waste on them.

[–] Windex007 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I hear your point, and it might be true, but it's only a hypothesis because, in the grand scheme of things, they aren't paid well relative to other work with significantly lower amounts of responsibility.

A young software developer working at Netflix or Amazon would be making more than them. A Congress person in a whole foods in silicon valley could very easily be the poorest customer in the store.

Scarface said "First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women". I believe that this is the American dream, at least in the eyes of people who end up in high government.

Their path is different though, power comes first, THEN the money, THEN the women. If we paid them at least enough to enable sexy affairs, I think they could round out the three without as much incentive to go full on corrupt

[–] AA5B 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

We could enlist a corp of hot young women from all over the world , and bring them to a private island ….

[–] Ensign_Crab 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I hear your point, and it might be true, but it’s only a hypothesis because, in the grand scheme of things, they aren’t paid well relative to other work with significantly lower amounts of responsibility.

"We should pay these corrupt pieces of shit even more money, and maybe they'll stop taking bribes" is a hypothesis we've tested PLENTY of times. The results are conclusive: the people we put into office are overpaid at any price, and are corrupt no matter how much money we waste on them.

[–] Windex007 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

When has this hypothesis been tested in the USA?

Where are these conclusive results you speak of?

[–] Ensign_Crab 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When has this hypothesis been tested in the USA?

Every single time we gave them a raise.

Where are these conclusive results you speak of?

They're still corrupt.