State by state, we need referendums to eliminate the elected Reps healthcare and pensions

[Meldread]

7. This is a horrible idea, and here is why:

There is always this desire to punish elected officials either through how much they make in income from the job, or in this case going after their healthcare and pensions. In reality, what this does is two things. First, it means that normal people cannot occupy those offices. Only individuals who are already wealthy prior to running for office end up in those offices because they are unaffected by such measures. Second, it means that normal people who already occupy those offices are now incentivized to either leave and begin a lucrative job lobbying or become dirty and begin receiving kickbacks and other things under the table.

What we need instead is to take a page out of Singapore's book and actually pay highly competitive rates and benefits for people who work in government and public life. The goal for us would be to incentivize normal--average--people to consider a career in public service. When average people enter the office they better understand the problems experienced by other people like them--they know what it is like to struggle without healthcare, and thus it becomes a priority to fix such problems.