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Comment by tjwebbnorfolk | Hacker News Reader

This comment represents a lack of understanding of human nature.

You can't effectively represent the interests of others when your own needs are barely covered. I want my elected representatives paid quite well so that they have fewer excuses to succumb to the various temptations of holding such a position.

You can wish all you want that people with incredible power and responsibility should live like spiritual monks and possess only the purest and noblest of intentions, but that's not how people work, and it sure as hell isn't how politics works.

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You also can't empathize with poor people if your needs are met too well.

If congress were represented proportionally by wealth bracket instead of geography, most of these problems would be solved.

Pay peas, get monks? Anyway the idea of preventing corruption by bribing them officially is weird. It means they aren't any more morally upstanding, and would still do corrupt activities in their minds, we just hope that when they're well paid they won't make the effort. On the basis that they're immoral and lazy, so it balances out.

Anyway the idea of preventing corruption by bribing them officially is weird.

Labeling the act of someone getting paid to do a job as "bribery" is even more weird. While I certainly wouldn't do by current job if I was paid minimum wage, I don't know if I would say I'm being "bribed" by my employer to stick around. Even if it does appear to align with your new definition.

A millionaire approaches an attractive young woman in a bar and asks if she would be willing to spend the weekend with him at the country’s most expensive and luxurious hotel, waited on hand and foot and receiving a million pounds to sleep with him. The girl considers that it’s worth it for a million pounds, and agrees. The millionaire then suggests that they immediately sneak into the men’s toilet for quick sex for £5. She is shocked and insulted, and says “That’s disgusting! What kind of girl do you think I am?” He replies “We’ve already decided that. Now we’re just haggling over the price.”

We don't need to moralize everything when we can simply recognize patterns that work vs. patterns that don't work. And underpaying people definitely is not the way to get the results you want.

You may not like the reasons for WHY they work or not, but that is not relevant to WHETHER they work.

When I made minimum wage working at Subway, I would sneak extra sandwiches for myself here and there. I didn't strictly NEED them to physically survive, but hey -- I'm busting my ass for $7.25, I'm gonna pay myself a little bonus here and there. No one's watching, so I'm going to decide what's fair for a change.

Now I make much more than that. I no longer steal sandwiches from my employer.

I think this is the pattern for the great majority of people.

Pay peas, get independently wealthy part time politicians and filter out anyone lower or middle class.

If a median salary barely covers your needs, then that's a problem with what the median salary is, not that you've set it to that.

The median US pay is a good bit below median pay in DC.

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