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Like most ignorant people, you talk in vague generalizations, devoid of specifics.

Senators aren't princes. They aren't basking in wealth AND power. It just doesn't work that way.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

idk, I think if you're making $150,000+ that's a pretty decent wage - it's certainly more than some lawyers make.

Not given the necessary time, trouble, long-term commitment and basic ability required.

I mean, that's obvious. But let me ask you, why even make such a specious argument?

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

The problem with boiling it down like this is you ignore everything that happens inside the "begets."

Money isn't automatic power. That takes contacts, connections, an agenda, and a proxy to actually wield the power because we're still pretending not to be a direct plutocracy. Corporate CEOs (name one, this is a hypothetical) are only as good as their influence extends. They can throw money at problems, but at the end of the day, they're not directly making any decisions. Does the money help them get their way? Sure. But they can never be 100% sure it will, because someone else holds enough of the cards.

This is similar for the reverse. Power can turn into money, but it's frequently secondary, and a lot of it has to wait until the "power" phase has run its course. Our political system doesn't directly reward those in positions of real power (Congress/President/Supreme Court) until after they've retired or resigned or lost an election, at which point they're free to use whatever connections they'd established while in power to milk it for cash. If they do so directly while in power, that's called accepting bribes or perpetrating fraud.

Congress still represents constituents, and if we want to pretend there's any legitimacy to the American democratic process, we need to accept that every voice is equal. The Court represents the Constitution, not private interests or personal feelings. The money (beyond salary) made is either tangential to the job being done, or it's illegal.

But if you want to say that American democracy isn't democracy anymore, I'd be more than happy to quote you.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

I'm trying to look at it objectively.

I think $150,000 a year is a pretty great wage. A lawyer fresh out of law school, working for a huge firm 60-70+ hours a week (being an associate bitch for all the partners of the firm) would live quite comfortably on that. Do you disagree?

I mean, my own mother works 40 hours a week at JC Penny...she's probably lucky if she clears $25,000 -$30,000 in a year. Let's say she was a politician and had to work 80 hours a week at $150,000....she'd still be making 60% more an hour.

Also see: Ross Perot

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

The proof that you are not looking at it objectively is that your argument is stupid.

I'm serious. That's the only reason to make such an argument, that you've been brainwashed so completely by corporate propaganda that you're incapable of looking at it objectively, so you instead bend over backwards with silly arguments to fit things into your programming.

A lawyer fresh out of law school would have no chance at getting into political office. Politicians spend their entire lives, by the hour day and year, on their chosen career path, and with the same time/effort input, could make many times the money in private industry.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

Heh alright man, $150,000 a year is shit pay. Corporate propaganda brainwashed me into thinking that's a decent wage. Average wage index in 2010 was ~$40,000...but $150,000 is absolute garbage money.

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/COLA/AWI.html

For what these people are doing, it fucking is. That's just an inconvenient, objective fact.

Sorry your ideological views and ignorant assumptions don't quite agree with reality.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

lol those poor politicians making more than what...90% of people in the country.

Again, that's a dumb argument. The relevant comparison is, how much do they make compared to people with similar skills, discipline and demands on their time and life direction?

And again...the proof that you are either stupid or brainwashed...is that you don't use such logic in considering private industry. In that scenario, you argue about things like merit or initiative or the market etc. You don't argue that people doing far better than a much greater proportion of the country for doing far less is unfair.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

I am both extremely stupid, and brainwashed by corporate America into thinking that $150,000 a year is good wage and enough to live pretty decently on.

Corporate greed has made me believe that $150,000 is significantly more than most people are making around Canada/USA, and in the world.

I will be phoning my local congressman and asking if he has any calcium in his bones left. I will then be donating half of my yearly earnings to him personally because, with a salary of ~$170,000 a year, he must certainly be living in a box under a bridge down by the Chicago river.

Why more people aren't up in arms about the drastic under-compensation of these politicians is beyond me. We live in a sick world.

Aestu makes sense. Azelma is confused.

Willful ignorance in action, I explained the relevant comparison, you're pouting like a child because you don't like what the truth is.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

Honestly, I really don't get it. Aestu isn't helping me. Can someone else try explaining this to me in a different way...tuhl? Mayo? Dvergar? Anybody?

I would like facts: How many hours does a congressman work in a given week. What is the average household income of a congressional family? How many weeks of paid vacation do they get a year? What are the incidents of health problems in congressmen related to fatigue from over work?

Not blanket statements - I need raw numbers to support the theory that a congressman making $150,000-$170,000 annually is being drastically underpaid and that it is an injustice.