[exnavy]

I have a better one, much simpler as well.

No public office shall be a payed position, federal, state, or local, including retirement, under penalty of death.

[Red_Devil 232]

Well that sure would promote corruption to the nth degree.

[fr_freak]

I have a better one, much simpler as well.

No public office shall be a payed position, federal, state, or local, including retirement, under penalty of death.

Actually, I read a very interesting perspective on this, a while back. I believe it was Thomas Sowell who wrote it, but the gist of it was that there is no real way to eliminate the possibility of corruption in our politicians, and term limits and low salaries may actually increase the likelihood of a politician being susceptible to bribery. If a politician is less than wealthy already, and is offered substantial money and/or perks by some lobbyist or other scoundrel to vote one way or another, or submit one type of legislation or another, he might be very tempted to take it, especially if he is limited to only one or two terms, and knows he'll be job hunting soon.

Meanwhile, the bad legislation that he'll help pass will end up costing the taxpayer millions if not billions in bail-outs, excess regulations, or pork spending. The suggestion was made that it might be cheaper in the long run to pay each public officer a million dollars per year, as long as that then removes the temptation for them to engage in economy-killing legislation. I don't know if I agree with that idea, but I think the point is well made. I am convinced that only local accountability will help reduce corruption, and by that I mean physical, in-your-face, your-neighbors-want-to-kick-your-ass accountability.