How to Fix Congress

Many politicians may go to Washington expecting to do great things. But whether they accomplish anything or not, it seems their motivation for being a public servant quickly changes from the role of representation to one of dollar collection. There are so many perks of office that politicians re-run for their seats not to serve their constituents, but to keep the gravy train rolling. To get these politicians refocused on why they were elected, some things need to change. Public office needs to change from just a job where you get rich, to one where you serve the people who pay your salary. In other words, take away the perks so that only those that truly desire to help other people will be motivated to "apply" for these jobs. Here are just a few new rules that are needed:

1) Eliminate their ability to vote themselves a raise. Boy I wish I could vote myself a raise in my job. Wouldn't that be nice? At least I feel I deserve it. Their salary adjustments should operate just like the rest of the real world--your boss determines whether your performance justifies a wage increase. In the case of the politicians, we, the people, are "the boss." We, the people, should hold a vote for our senators and representatives and decide whether they get a raise and if so, how much of a percentage. Don't you think they might try a little harder if they knew their salary was in the hands of their constituents?

2) No salary after you leave office. Why should a senator or representative continue to collect a salary for a job they no longer hold? Yet they do. This perk needs to be eliminated so that a person actually earns the money they make. Most of them don't earn their salaries when they actually hold office, so why should it continue after they leave office?

3) Do not allow monetary contributions to any politician. All kinds of special interest groups donate money to get a favorable vote for their business or non-profit organization. Not only does this money buy a vote, it buys the politician some more sycophants, a new limo, and a personal masseuse. Politicians need to vote based on their conscience not on whoever paid them the most money.

4) Salary caps. Politicians should not be in office to get rich. Take away that notion right away, by lowering salaries to match the general population. Salaries can be adjusted for cost of living in Washington, but politicians should not be able to get rich off the taxpayer.

5) No collecting of pension until you're pensionable age. Politicians are completely out of touch regarding the reliance of people on their pension programs to provide a standard of living for them in their old page. Government pension should be just like the private sector--based on your base salary, based on your number of years service, and not collectible before age 55. Should a person who serves only one term in the house be entitled to this post-job perk? No.

6) Do not allow them to collect social security. A person whose salary and investments have made them multi-millionaires do not need to be collecting social security. Yes, maybe they have earned it. But have they? They certainly don't pay their share of their taxes because of all the loopholes, so maybe they haven't. And anyway, if these politicians were more humanitarian, they would refuse the money and allow the money to stay in the social security fund, where it could help people that really need it.

7) Mandatory retirement age. This will help take away some of the motivation for more money. There will no possibility for them to go on and on and on earning that money when they will be forced to quit. And anyway, do we want senile politicians representing us? This rule would provide many benefits for the public besides saving the taxpayers money.

Everything is broken because our congress has lost their vision of service and replaced it with a vision of reelection. I am convinced that once they get to Washington their only goal is to make sure they return. Granted, in order to get reelected they have to do at least a few good deeds to make the people happy enough to reelect them. But just enough. If all the perks could be taken away, maybe the people who run for office would be more likely to be those who honestly want to help people instead of those who vie for the job just to get rich.