Comments on: Give Congress Perks And A Raise

CBS's Meyer: It's Easy To Gripe About Lobbyists, But You Get The Politicians You Pay For

[omega39-2009]

A better idea would be to make it illegal for former politicians to lobby at all.

[lindu813]

Is this a dream. Pay these people more!!!!! For what? I like the idea of making lobbying illegal, however, try catching the under the table deals......

[bm6005]

Our representatives need to be the best and the brightest, not a commoner (as some of you have suggested) who likely does not have a 4 year degree. That''''s common sense!
Posted by dodjd251

What a line of arrogant C R A P!! Our reps are the worst & dumbest. I''m a college grad and I''ve met an awful lot of idiots/morons with more advanced degrees than I have. You wouldn''t know common sense if you had it!!!

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by dodjd251 at 04:24 PM : Jan 18, 2008

Horse hockey! Anybody with good common sense, a willingness to work and stay informed, and some good smarts and good judgment and honesty can be a good legislator! I was a legislative watchdog for 15 years. Nobody ever offered to pay me $169,000 to understand and advise on legislation.

This idea that these people are some kind of special elite force is ridiculous! They pull their pants on just like the rest of us. And their day is the same length as ours.

$169,000 is not bad pay, when the government is also paying a whole herd of folks in an office to support your arse!

Most of these people are independently wealthy in the first place. And the idea was to serve their country which is supposed to be an honor, not line their pocket books with tax payer dollars. Who the hell ever told them they were supposed to get rich at our expense?

[huanaco]

THE IDEA IS JUST CRAZY, MAKE A CRIME TO LOBBY AND WOULD GO A LONG WAY STOPPING THIS VICE.

[luvcomments]

Instead of being held to ransom (extortion ?) for higher pay because the legislators'' standards have plummeted, why not simply criminalize lobbying? Then these greed-run corporations wouldn''t hire lobbyists/pimps to pay off those certain legislators/prostitutes who sell us down the river. That''s just my humble opinion, of course :) Other than in government, pimping and prostitution are illegal.

Raise the pay but put them on the same pension (Social Security) and medical plans as the rest of the citizenry. Stop their useless overseas jaunts and other perks. Maybe they will then act like responsible people and not the super elite!

[random_radar]

If the government had minimal powers and no budget, it wouldn''t matter who was in office. The reason we have so much corruption is because the government has so much power and money to hand out to whoever lobbies for it. There is no mystery about what is wrong.

The solution is not to pay more but to emasculate the government by taking away the money and power. As long as we stand in line with our hands out for government largess, we will live under the burden of massive taxation to pay for it (paradoxically) and oppressive regulations to control what we do.

Get rid of the government and most of our problems would also disappear. But fools don''t believe that.

[antizion]

I would like to give them a trial for bribery and treason before tossing them into the sea of pissed off voters for a proper shredding.

[dodjd251]

95% of you who have posted a comment just don''t get it.

Sure our representatives make more than you do. Don''t you think their job is more important than yours is? Also, don''t you think that the importance of someone''s job should in some way corrolate to how much they are paid?

Another question: Would you prefer that the company you work for be run by Bill Gates instead of the guy who works next to you? At the same token, don''t you want to live in a country where those running it are as duly qualified to do so? Hiring your work buddy from the swing shift won''t help. Trust me.

Our representatives need to be the best and the brightest, not a commoner (as some of you have suggested) who likely does not have a 4 year degree. That''s common sense!