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.

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.

  • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2•11 months ago

    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.

      • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1•11 months ago

        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.

          • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1•11 months ago

            Ok, so we haven’t tested the hypothesis.

            Yes we have. We keep increasing congress’ pay like you want, and they keep taking bribes like you want.

            • @aberrate_junior_beatnik@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1•11 months ago

              If someone did a study on whether raising the minimum wage impacts people’s quality of life, raised it a penny, found that people were still in poverty, and said “we should give up on minimum wages,” would that convince you? Your statement, that we’ve raised congressional wages and corruption is still present, is an equivalent argument. No one is arguing that giving politicians any raise will completely eliminate corruption. I would argue that we should give members of congress wages comparable to the amount of money they would get from taking bribes, and the result will be reduced, not eliminated, corruption.

              • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1•11 months ago

                If someone did a study on whether raising the minimum wage impacts people’s quality of life, raised it a penny, found that people were still in poverty, and said “we should give up on minimum wages,” would that convince you?

                Comparing someone who makes 6 figures to someone who makes minimum wage is insulting to the latter.

                Particularly since the former is responsible for keeping the latter’s wages stagnant while whining about how he’s not compensated enough for doing so.

                • @aberrate_junior_beatnik@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  0•11 months ago

                  You’re right. The point I was making was that congressional members are like people with minimum wage. Your response is definitely not dodging my argument.

                  • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    1•11 months ago

                    The point I was making was that congressional members are like people with minimum wage.

                    The point you were making is that congressturds aren’t rich enough and that we should just spam money at them and that will magically make them less corrupt. Bringing up minimum wage workers who haven’t seen a raise in decades in that context is utterly disgusting.