Poll of the Day > How hard is it to run for congress?

(+) Yeah! (+)

There are over 500 spots. You make nearly $200,000 a year plus whatever big companies give you to vote their way. Sounds like a pretty cakey job!

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

You make nearly $200,000

That's about $120,000 too much.

GanglyKhan posted...

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

You make nearly $200,000

That's about $120,000 too much.

35k would be about the sweet spot. Just live some modest means, have another job on the side, you know, pull those boot straps up.

dedbus posted...

GanglyKhan posted...

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

You make nearly $200,000

That's about $120,000 too much.

35k would be about the sweet spot. Just live some modest means, have another job on the side, you know, pull those boot straps up.

I don't know if you're being sarcarstic/satirical or not. I think that politicians get paid way too much, they should be in their position because they want to make good contributions to their country and state, not for a fat paycheck.

If Ocasio-Cortez can do it, anyone can do it. She's incredibly unintelligent. She advocates for policies that have been proven to not be sustainable financially. All while refusing to actually debate or speak to anyone who would dare question her or make her defend her stupidity.

Basically, if you run as a Democrat, and you promise to steal other people's property and wealth and redistribute it, you're golden.

GanglyKhan posted...

dedbus posted...

GanglyKhan posted...

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

You make nearly $200,000

That's about $120,000 too much.

35k would be about the sweet spot. Just live some modest means, have another job on the side, you know, pull those boot straps up.

I don't know if you're being sarcarstic/satirical or not. I think that politicians get paid way too much, they should be in their position because they want to make good contributions to their country and state, not for a fat paycheck.

It's more than fair. Mcdonalds had some manual on how to live perfectly fine on their wages, which would be less than what I proposed.

There is a difference between running and winning.
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BeerOnTap posted...

If Ocasio-Cortez can do it, anyone can do it. She's incredibly unintelligent. She advocates for policies that have been proven to not be sustainable financially. All while refusing to actually debate or speak to anyone who would dare question her or make her defend her stupidity.

Basically, if you run as a Democrat, and you promise to steal other people's property and wealth and redistribute it, you're golden.

lol
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Its medium
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dedbus posted...

It's more than fair. Mcdonalds had some manual on how to live perfectly fine on their wages, which would be less than what I proposed.

There's still campaigning costs to be considered as well as the cost of living in each state. 35k isn't going to cut it for the dudes in most east coast States or California.

dedbus posted...

It's more than fair. Mcdonalds had some manual on how to live perfectly fine on their wages, which would be less than what I proposed.

No it didn't. That list included a second job and unrealistic costs all over it.
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Good enough for everyone else. Good enough for them.

Pretty hard. If you're running as a member of a party, you need to get a ton of signatures just to get on the ballot (although you can hire an agency to help). You then have to win your party primary and, ideally, living an area where your party almost always wins.

In the most technical sense, if you're registered with a party and in good standing, you're arguably running even when you're just gathering signatures (there's also a process for independents, but it might take more effort since you'd have to do some more research). As such, it's probably not that hard since you'd just need to fill out a bunch of forms or something.

GanglyKhan posted...

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

You make nearly $200,000

That's about $120,000 too much.

Eh, rent in DC is pretty damn high and they have to maintain a residence in their home state as well.

dedbus posted...

35k would be about the sweet spot. Just live some modest means, have another job on the side, you know, pull those boot straps up.

If you're in congress, you're usually not going to have the time for another job and the costs associated with the job exceed $35k by themselves, considering you need to have a place in DC while having a place in your home state. (Not sure if travel is out-of-pocket or on the taxpayers' dime.)

GanglyKhan posted...

I don't know if you're being sarcarstic/satirical or not. I think that politicians get paid way too much, they should be in their position because they want to make good contributions to their country and state, not for a fat paycheck.

They generally don't make great contributions and they usually are in it for personal reasons, since it's a well-paying job that can (in the case of national office) be segued into an even better-paying lobbyist job afterward in addition to helping with book deals, etc. And pretty much everybody who goes into national politics has an ego that needs gratifying.

BeerOnTap posted...

If Ocasio-Cortez can do it, anyone can do it. She's incredibly unintelligent. She advocates for policies that have been proven to not be sustainable financially. All while refusing to actually debate or speak to anyone who would dare question her or make her defend her stupidity.

Basically, if you run as a Democrat, and you promise to steal other people's property and wealth and redistribute it, you're golden.

She's a complete idiot although, in her district's defense, I believe all she's done so far is won the primary (which is bad enough, but we live in the age of the outsider). Granted, she's likely to get elected since it's a far-left area and, quite honestly, this is EXACTLY what happens when you have bastions of far-left or far-right power.

She is kinda cute, though, which probably also helped her.

GanglyKhan posted...

There's still campaigning costs to be considered as well as the cost of living in each state. 35k isn't going to cut it for the dudes in most east coast States or California.

Most politicians don't self-fund their own campaigns, they have contributions as well as election funds and money from their party.
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Youre basically spending most of your time trying to raise funds for the next election, particularly if youre in the House instead of the Senate. And for anyone saying that $200,000 is too much, Id honestly think that almost members of Congress could make a higher salary than that at an outside position.

If its that easy, then give it a shot.
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$200,000 is low compared to CEO positions at many companies.
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The Popo posted...

And for anyone saying that $200,000 is too much, Id honestly think that almost members of Congress could make a higher salary than that at an outside position.

They can now, but most of them really wouldn't have those prospects had they not held office first. A lot of congressmen (and senators) are lifelong politicians who have never had private sector success and won their office by pandering.

A half-decent case-in-point might be that jackass Senator Chris Murphy -- who replaced Joe Lieberman -- is a perfect example, since he entered politics right after leaving college and, generally speaking, does little more than vote along party lines. The few places he tries to pioneer are, predictably, completely horrible such as advocating against violent tv shows and video games (which he blames for mass shootings). Of course, CT's senators are generally pro-censorship fascist fucks because we've also got Dick Blumenthal and, prior to that, Lieberman was also against video games.

This was one of Blumenthal's classics:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100722/01555510316.shtml
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TyVulpine posted...

$200,000 is low compared to CEO positions at many companies.

...because they shouldn't be paid as well as CEOs. And there are also a lot of CEOs who *don't* even make $200k. However, CEOs are paid well because they run profitable companies. Given that the US has been operating at a budget deficit for years, maybe politicians should follow some CEOs' examples and forgo their salary until things improve.
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