9mo ago

Does this plan make sense? v3

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#1. Truly abolish slavery. #2. Change the legal system from punishment to rehabilitation. #3. Congress gets minimum wage. #4. Minimum wage and unemployment must be a livable wage.
- Congress gets minimum wage
  Only works in a country where politicians can't enrich themselves through heredity or graft. As it stands, the bulk of a Congressman's fortune accrues before (family/career) or after (lobbyist/book deals) they take high office.
  
  Unfortunately, there is no perfect system when humans are involved. We'll either fuck it up or change our minds on what is perfect.
  
  A perfect system would necessarily be mutable. If we couldn't fuck it up, it wouldn't be perfect, just rigid and unforgiving.
- My only issue with point 3 is wouldn't that make members of Congress more tempted by bribes and such? Sure, we can out law it and say it's bad, but as my uncle always told me, it's only illegal if you get caught.
  
  Yup. Exactly why you can bribe police in some poorer countries. They don't make enough money to say no.
  
  I agree. Talking in such broad terms leaves a lot of holes. Since we're talking pie in the sky stuff maybe: have congressional service require divesting oneself of all past and future funds beyond X amount with the understanding that they have to have increased scrutiny in all financial matters- like no privacy. I can think of a lot of problems with this but could it be better than the current system? I don't see how it couldn't be a bit of an improvement over them making $174k and yet being hundreds millionaires from stock trading for themselves and family members over years of insider information.

413 comments