As the country's political leaders continue to get older, events and episodes of decline among politicians continue to happen publicly.

People mentioned in this article are very old.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 90 President Joe Biden, 80 Former President Donald Trump, 77

    • yiliu@informis.land
      10·
      1 year ago

      And to pay politicians! Doctors, lawyers, bottom -rung programmers, and ambitious plumbers all make more than the people who run the county–and aren’t expected to constantly fly themselves across the country and maintain multiple residences–at least one of them in one of the priciest markets in the country.

      The only people who want that job are already rich, or are great at schmoozing and finding donors.

      Pay them so well, all your best and brightest want to grow up to be legislators, and have no urgent need to start accepting graft. At least make it competitive with writing python scripts.

      • mikansei@kbin.social
        16·
        1 year ago

        Politicians don’t get rich from their salaries. They get rich from the connections they make.

        I would accept paying them more if they weren’t allowed to actively trade stocks while in office

        • yiliu@informis.land
          3·
          1 year ago

          Yes, that is the status quo. If you want to change it, you need to accept higher pay so that more average Joes seek election and then vote to restrict trades by sitting politics.

          Constricting pay only cements the status quo by making it so that only rich people or cheaters can make a living as a politician.

          • The_Sasswagon@beehaw.org
            1·
            1 year ago

            Is they pay not being high enough really the barrier to entry for most people? I would imagine the barrier is upfront cost more than eventual salary. Paying the politicians more just encourages them to stay longer.

            Give them free food, housing, and health care, and a stipend for recreational spending. They are serving the people, I’m cool to foot the bill for that much. Use the rest of our money to help less rich and powerful people run for office in the first place.