Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Price is Right

While I’m of the impression that most people receiving these letters agree with most of what’s in them, here’s an opinion that should be an exception. I believe Congressional salaries should be raised. A majority on both ends of the political spectrum probably think otherwise, more so the political right because it’s currently a nominal minority in both Houses.

I first got this notion from a book by Tip O’Neill. As respected as the former House Speaker was, any argument involving the arguer’s well being should be taken with a grain of salt. But his reasoning did make sense as far as it went. He wrote that as his party’s leader in the House of Representatives it was his job to recruit candidates to run for Congress. Many qualified people were reluctant to leave jobs that paid considerably more than they could make in Congress if they were elected.

Congressional salary of $175 thousand may seem like a lot of money to most of us and the fringe benefits are considerable. But to many people earning something in the vicinity of seven figures or more, this is insufficient income to build the nest egg that people of that earning capacity have in mind. This income doesn’t even qualify for the top tax bracket.

The difficulties in recruitment encountered by Mr. O’Neill are part of a larger picture. In offering only upper middle class salaries for some of the nation’s most important jobs, the aphorism “you get what you pay for” comes into play. In addition to eliminating many of the most qualified, the pool from which these legislators come is expanded to include people of lesser ability, integrity or both. Along with the opportunity to in effect sell one’s vote, albeit at a seriously discounted price, this is a recipe for disaster.

There are exceptions of course. The deserved disapproval of Congress is not a fair reflection of all 535 members of the two Houses. It has been shown recently and repeatedly that it doesn’t take a majority to gum up legislative machinery and it doesn’t require close scrutiny to learn who is doing the gumming. A modicum of reason and knowledge will do. Unfortunately many of our most vocal citizens are lacking these qualities and voters seem on the verge of rewarding the gummers.

It’s hard to make the case for rewarding bad performance. But we can see where the status quo has put us. Congress, our national legislature, is not close to working as well as it should. In light of the circumstances under which its members are admitted, it is working as well as it can.


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