It's embarrassing and absurd how cheap it is to buy off congress from making everyone's lives easier. Can't a gofundme raise more than 16k to counter them?
How about we go back to when politician wasn’t a full time job, and you barely got paid for it? Make it illegal to pay politicians for any public services apart from a set nominal salary.
What if a fixed/low salary only attracts the already-rich whose interests will never be well aligned with the general public?
If you want superstar government that is the very best at what it is supposed to do, you need a superstar salary structure, something more like professional athletics. Our president should be paid millions (with complex incentive structures for measurable achievements), but under “at will” employment terms and accountable to the people.