Thomas Sowell writes on Townhall:
I don’t make a million dollars a year but I think every member of Congress should be paid at least that much. It’s not because those turkeys in Washington deserve it. It’s because we deserve a lot better people than we have in Congress.
The cost of paying every member of Congress a million dollars a year is absolutely trivial compared to the vast amounts of the taxpayers’ money wasted by cheap politicians doing things to get themselves re-elected. You could pay every member of Congress a million dollars a year for a century for less money than it costs to run the Department of Agriculture for one year.
There is no point complaining about the ineptness, deception or corruption of government while refusing to do anything to change the incentives and constraints which lead to ineptness, deception and corruption.
You are not going to get the most highly skilled or intelligent people in the country, people with real-world experience, while offering them one-tenth or less of what such people can earn in the private sector.
You’d think an economist would understand better than most that upping the compensation is only going to increase the demand for the job on the part of those driven by pecuniary interests, not reduce it. His point on the benefits of term limits is a solid, if unorginal one, but I am sure increased compensation is not the solution.
In fact, if one looks at the historical example he cites, one would correctly conclude the precise opposite. Institute strict term limits and pay Congress less, if anything. That’s the way to appeal to those driven by duty and honor instead of financial ambitions.