@lain like before ive thought that it would be great if politicians were just unpaid but now that i think of it yea theyd definitely turn to other sources in that case
@lain I doubt. See Italian politicians. They are by far the most paid in Europe and perhaps in the world and our government is a mess. ? The fewer politician the better. The best politician is the non existing one.
I think it helps if they hadn’t already earned millions from foreign interests before seeking higher office as well. Perhaps also be considered unfit when their brain no work. “Hello good.. night.”
@lain Humans are greedy creatures. Most of them are never satisfied. They crave more and more money and power. We ask for the grace to resist temptation…
@lain Personally I think; Too few money, and you'll only get people who already have passive income and probably will use this position to increase their wealth. Too much money, and you make it even more attractive to psychopath billionaires who will use their wealth to get in power and then probably use this position to increase their wealth even more whatever the cost to the population.
If we assume this to be true, the question becomes if there's a better balance between these two extremes. In Belgium there are politicians who don't take more than the average worker wage. They also publicly state what assets they have when they start their term, so it's clear where there may be conflicts of interest. (Note that this isn't a general rule, it's just one party who has this as policy.) Is this a good way of doing things? Idk, but at the very least someone with an average wage will have a much better feel than a rich person with passive income for the economical effects of their decisions on the gross of the population. So... maybe?
All in all I would say the problem with current-day politics is more fundamental than what politicians are paid, though (for starters, I believe that elections being a zero-sum game is very bad for cooperation, which leads to bad results), but that's maybe besides the point here.