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Publius · 05-01-2004, 10:15 AM

OK this has gotten altogether to be much to silly (not this thread, but the general debate about rich candidates not being in touch with the people they are suppose to represent). Now as I recall, this debate goes much further back then the current conflict between W. and Kerry. Seems to me that Bush (Sr.) was accused about not being in touch with the people because he had no idea how much a gallon of milk cost (personally I think it was because he was a typical man of his era and poor old Barb had to do all the shopping). Regardless, there is a point that I want to make here and that is, what do you expect? Unfortunately, the way our governmental institution is arranged it is only the “rich” that can afford to run for public office (I use rich loosely here because it is a rather vague term to begin with as everyone has their own definition of what the “rich” is). Probably the most contributing factor to this is that most elected public officials are not payed enough to make it worth their time, in fact a lot of them are not even payed enough for them to pay their bills. This crosses over ever single level of elected government. Example. In Nebraska where I grew up, State Senators (Nebraska and Maine are the only two states with Unicameral legislatures, so everyone in Nebraska’s Assembly is a Senator) were paid about $17,000 a year. Now, I know that Nebraska isn’t a very big state and that their really isn’t a lot of governing that needs to go on, but do you know anyone who can afford to work for only $17,000 a year? Yip, that’s right, only people who are independently wealthy, which means that they have to own their own business that they are able to take time away from, or they are retired, or they are rich and don’t need the money. Now then, lets look at what US Congressmen make on average, $158,000 per year. Not bad, not bad that is if you don’t have all the expenses that a Congressmen has, like the high cost of living in D.C., or the fact that you have to maintain not 1 but 2 households, and hey lets be realistic here, your probably sinking a lot of your own money into your campaign, into maintaining public relations after you have been elected, and going to all those functions that you are expected to attended (not the official ones, but the unofficial ones that you are expected to give face time to). So now what about the President? $400,000 per year. Nice ehh? But remember everything I said about Congressmen goes doubly or triply true for the President. And besides, who would really want the job for only $400,000 per year? Take a look around in society at how much CEO’s make, private businessmen, (westcoast union doc workers ... cough) or hell the President of my ol alma mater. CEO’s make millions, so do many successful private businessmen, and the President of my ol alma mater? $300,000, and this is at public state university. Ok so the point I am trying to get to here is if you really want someone running the country who isn’t just the rich (who are supposedly out of touch with the “people”, still haven’t figured out what that means exactly) then the first thing you need to do is increase the salaries (about 10 fold would be a good start) of all publically elected officials straight across the board so that more people for the middle class can actually think about running for office. Until then, people should stop sniveling about how much money an elected official has and start focusing on the real issues, like which one is taller.

05-01-2004, 10:15 AM	#16 (permalink)
Publius Crazy Location: Never Never Land	OK this has gotten altogether to be much to silly (not this thread, but the general debate about rich candidates not being in touch with the people they are suppose to represent). Now as I recall, this debate goes much further back then the current conflict between W. and Kerry. Seems to me that Bush (Sr.) was accused about not being in touch with the people because he had no idea how much a gallon of milk cost (personally I think it was because he was a typical man of his era and poor old Barb had to do all the shopping). Regardless, there is a point that I want to make here and that is, what do you expect? Unfortunately, the way our governmental institution is arranged it is only the “rich” that can afford to run for public office (I use rich loosely here because it is a rather vague term to begin with as everyone has their own definition of what the “rich” is). Probably the most contributing factor to this is that most elected public officials are not payed enough to make it worth their time, in fact a lot of them are not even payed enough for them to pay their bills. This crosses over ever single level of elected government. Example. In Nebraska where I grew up, State Senators (Nebraska and Maine are the only two states with Unicameral legislatures, so everyone in Nebraska’s Assembly is a Senator) were paid about $17,000 a year. Now, I know that Nebraska isn’t a very big state and that their really isn’t a lot of governing that needs to go on, but do you know anyone who can afford to work for only $17,000 a year? Yip, that’s right, only people who are independently wealthy, which means that they have to own their own business that they are able to take time away from, or they are retired, or they are rich and don’t need the money. Now then, lets look at what US Congressmen make on average, $158,000 per year. Not bad, not bad that is if you don’t have all the expenses that a Congressmen has, like the high cost of living in D.C., or the fact that you have to maintain not 1 but 2 households, and hey lets be realistic here, your probably sinking a lot of your own money into your campaign, into maintaining public relations after you have been elected, and going to all those functions that you are expected to attended (not the official ones, but the unofficial ones that you are expected to give face time to). So now what about the President? $400,000 per year. Nice ehh? But remember everything I said about Congressmen goes doubly or triply true for the President. And besides, who would really want the job for only $400,000 per year? Take a look around in society at how much CEO’s make, private businessmen, (westcoast union doc workers ... cough) or hell the President of my ol alma mater. CEO’s make millions, so do many successful private businessmen, and the President of my ol alma mater? $300,000, and this is at public state university. Ok so the point I am trying to get to here is if you really want someone running the country who isn’t just the rich (who are supposedly out of touch with the “people”, still haven’t figured out what that means exactly) then the first thing you need to do is increase the salaries (about 10 fold would be a good start) of all publically elected officials straight across the board so that more people for the middle class can actually think about running for office. Until then, people should stop sniveling about how much money an elected official has and start focusing on the real issues, like which one is taller.