Does the Financial Standing of a Politician Make Any Difference in Your Political Disposition?

[ManCityFC9]

It seems one of the more recent topic of discussion has been the wealthy in general, particularly "Anti-Rich" rhetoric has had a bit of topicality.

With respects to the Congress, their purpose of representing of the public/constituents;
How does the Wealth of Congress make you feel?
"The cumulative net worth of senators and House members jumped by one-fifth in the two years before the start of this Congress, outperforming the typical American’s improved fortunes as well as the solid performance of investment markets during that time."
FULL ARTICLE BELOW
-https://www.rollcall.com/news/hawkings/congress-richer-ever-mostly-top
--This was a discussion topic on C-SPAN this morning

My question:
In general, does the wealth of Politicians bring a feeling of disconnection from you or does the financial standing of a particular Politician mean little to nothing to you and your general political disposition?


IMO
There seems to be quite a great deal of portrayal that the Rich have a lack of competency and understanding when it comes representing constituents and creating sound legislation.
-Recent discussion with colleagues of mine have led me to neither discount nor agree with this theory.
I am curious to hear the thoughts of you lot;

Does a Politician being rich bring a sense of distaste in you?
Do you feel that they are not only a misrepresentation of you, but also lack the competency/sense to derive legislation to better govern you?

Cheers

 

[Teppodama]

I could care less about a politicians wealth. I simply don't trust anyone that desires to take on the career of full time politician.

 

[Witchhunt]

I don't care about it when they enter politics, but I do care when they use politics to amass great wealth.

 

[Gregolian]

I personally feel a "public servant" which is essentially what politicians are shouldn't be able to end up with 7-10 figures sitting in their bank account off of it. How can they know what the normal human that works 9-5 (or some other form of anywhere from 20-40 hours a week) need if this person spends more on their goddamn dinner plate than I do on my suits?

EDIT:
As an example, your opinion on the changes to the tax system by Trump not being brought into this.... when Nancy Pelosi made the offhand remark that "$1000 is a drop in the bucket"... excuse me you botox injecting almost 80 year old but $1000 would allow me to pay off an entire CC, make 2 months worth of payments on my truck, pay off a large chunk of my student loan debt, stock up my freezer on food.

Rich politicians are so far separated from the normal economics of regular people at a stage that it gets hard to take them seriously.

 

[ManCityFC9]

I could care less about a politicians wealth. I simply don't trust anyone that desires to take on the career of full time politician.

To your point, what's insane is that any term limit setting would have to be written as legislation and voted on by Congress itself.

 

[Gregolian]

To your point, what's insane is that any term limit setting would have to be written as legislation and voted on by Congress itself.

Notice they NEVER fail to hold a session on whether they get a pay increase or not?

That the Amendment in the Bill of Rights having to do with Congressional pay I believe was passed faster than almost any other.

 

[S-dot]

Without context of their money somehow making them corrupt, I don’t care. In my utopia I’d like to see their earning potential as a politician be merit based, kind of like athletes or ceos. Good politician who gets good results should be paid more than a bum who fucks his constituents over. Salaries should be determined by the constituents and not self regulated by the politicians.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

Honestly it depends...

If they made their money legitimately, off of hard work, initiative and ingenuity ...then yea, I do take that into consideration ...

If a politician inherited a shit load and just leached off of his family , fuck no .
Eg: gwb

 

[Bamboozled]

No, what makes a difference is how they want to impact my financial standing.

 

[ManCityFC9]

Honestly it depends...

If they made their money legitimately, off of hard work, initiative and ingenuity ...then yea, I do take that into consideration ...

If a politician inherited a shit load and just leached off of his family , fuck no .
Eg: gwb

Your point reflects one of my colleague's;
"A successful person will likely have the ability to negotiate and develop effective legislation that can pass a vote; while a richer colleague likely gets by with charisma and massively financed campaign, only to achieve mediocrity, at best, in a chamber of congress."

 

[ManCityFC9]

Without context of their money somehow making them corrupt, I don’t care. In my utopia I’d like to see their earning potential as a politician be merit based, kind of like athletes or ceos. Good politician who gets good results should be paid more than a bum who fucks his constituents over. Salaries should be determined by the constituents and not self regulated by the politicians.

Would the State Legislative body be the one to grade and decide on a salary(increase/decrease) for their federal representative, within limits?

 

[jk7707]

Not necessarily. As some others have said, if said politician started off as a regular joe and worked their ass off to amass a couple million then that's fine with me because at least they still have an idea of what regular peoples lives are like and can relate.

On the other hand when you have someone like Trump who rode his dad's coattails until he died and then inherited tens of millions of dollars. That type of person has no clue what it's like to work a 9-5 job or live paycheck to paycheck.

 

[Teppodama]

Would the State Legislative body be the one to grade and decide on a salary(increase/decrease) for their federal representative, within limits?

I think at least one of the major considerations should be the States over all solvency.

 

[ManCityFC9]

Not necessarily. As some others have said, if said politician started off as a regular joe and worked their ass off to amass a couple million then that's fine with me because at least they still have an idea of what regular peoples lives are like and can relate.

On the other hand when you have someone like Trump who rode his dad's coattails until he died and then inherited tens of millions of dollars. That type of person has no clue what it's like to work a 9-5 job or live paycheck to paycheck.

Interesting viewpoint;

In my personal opinion, the financial standing and history of someone is not a direct reflection of their ability to write/pass law, govern, lead, etc.
-But I am slightly cynical in that I never expect a politician to truly "work for me" or "understand" my viewpoint.

Your point is valid though; there is an affinity between those with shared experiences.

 

[Seaside]

A ideological person will always be better against money. Hardcore islamists wont betray islam and there people for short gain, they maybe take bribe from other islamists to do something to help that islamists or something. But they wont put money before there ideology.

Non ideology people who not hardcore i feel are way more swayed. So do you want someme corruptible or extremist?

 

[S-dot]

Would the State Legislative body be the one to grade and decide on a salary(increase/decrease) for their federal representative, within limits?

I haven’t thought about it very deeply because it’s not going to happen but I would like us all to be more politically engaged and also demand more from our politicians, while recognizing good politicians who should be rewarded. Combine that with good term limits and maybe politicians might be more meticulous in what they do and how they do it.

 

[ManCityFC9]

I think at least one of the major considerations should be the States over all solvency.

That might be tough; considering States' current debt.
-I recently tuned into a discussion between House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
--Elaine Chao(Transportation Secretary) divulged some details to agreements
(i.e. NY/NJ only wanted to provide 0 and 5% of state funding for 2 major projects while the Federal gov't foots the rest of the bill; while representatives of those states stated "50/50" was the deal.)

-But in agreement, I'd say consideration between annual deficit management and constituency satisfaction(this seems oxymoron-"ic" in today's society) might be factors in grading a politician.

 

[ultramanhyata]

Of course it matters.

It's sort of like asking a guy on trial for a rape that he alleges was a consensual encounter if it "makes any difference to him" if the jury in the case is made up of all females.

 

[HIMBOB]

I am one of those rare people who think they don't get paid enough.

The value of direct remuneration is a pittance compared to the decisions they make.

The problems revolve around deals they make to further their own interests being literally thousands of times more expensive for the tax payer.

A billion dollars of tax cuts for a dying sector in exchange fir the promise of a after term consulting gig worth a million.


We had a huge and lengthy debate in Australia about ex pollies getting free domestic flights for life. The cost of the program was 1 million a year. On a time to budget ratio it deserved 13 seconds of sitting time. Was discussed on and off for 2 weeks at least.

 

[ManCityFC9]

I haven’t thought about it very deeply because it’s not going to happen but I would like us all to be more politically engaged and also demand more from our politicians, while recognizing good politicians who should be rewarded. Combine that with good term limits and maybe politicians might be more meticulous in what they do and how they do it.

Hypothetically this would be ideal;
it would help deter the cons of campaign funding, lobbying, etc.(due to said politician focusing on constructive legislation with impact, versus maintaining office).

The public might eventually have a say on things, based on their future voting decisions... but the "system" itself seems primed for perpetual inefficacy