Who thinks that it should be mandatory for politicians to live at middle class standards during their term?

I think you should because it helps you do your job better because you know the concerns of the community and you can best help them when you can feel the impact yourself of what they are dealing with as a community, I hardly think you can accomplish that if you don’t fully understand what’s needed their

Well of course a high standard of life is available, we are paying for it.

Idle hands are the devils workshop and politicians have a lot of idle hands.

All members of Society are to some extent or other paying for everybody’s life style.

I don’t know what you do for a living, but your income comes from the profits made out of others who pay for the services or goods that you either directly or indirectly provide.

A politician is no different from you and me in that respect.

Very true, we all should provide a service or good for our income, I just feel we are paying politicians way to much for what they provide.

Expect the Politicians to help the disabled, and people of both genders, and the homeless.

I don’t believe that it could help them to do the job effectively if we were to insist that they were surgically disable, or subjected to gender realignment therapy, or forced to live in a cardboard box under the nearest hedge.

The electorate decide who is a fit and proper person to lead the country, and I doubt that many people would vote for a homeless, disabled, transsexual, …..

….. especially not someone who deliberately put themselves in such a disadvantaged state, purely as a means to an end of achieving political power.

We expect …..

I don’t think anyone should be limited on how successful they can be or how much money they can make, as long as they do it legally. But I do think we pay politicians way to much.

Not sure what level of politician you are talking about.

In general many politicians are already slumming it. Any of the recent presidents and many senators and representatives could make far more money in the private sector than they do in office.

There is a danger of underpaying politicians that you can see in states like Texas. In Texas legislators make only $7,200/year (no, I didn’t drop a zero; they are really paid less than someone could make working full time at minimum wage). The effect of this is that only the independently wealthy can afford to serve. Wealthy politicians tend to look out for the interests of people like themselves rather than ordinary folks.

@Chris,

I am inclined to agree, but they are not as bad as the top tier of bankers who live like parasitic leeches off the labour of hard workers and sit back laughing at everybody else, while they award themselves obscenely large “bonuses” that are paid for at the expense of everybody else who is effectively forced to use the banking services, or live a life based on some sort of prehistoric bartering system where no money ever exchanges hands.

The world recession that has cut almost everybody’s standard of living dramatically (except the bankers standard of living) was brought about solely by the bankers in my opinion.

Though the politicians share some of the blame for not regulating the banking system adequately.

To use the “cockney rhyming slang”, they are a load of “Merchant Bankers”.

I don’t think politicians should get paid as much as they do… Kinda like wellfare. They sit on their tuffs all day and think of more ways to separate you from your hard earned money just so they can “afford to live in this country”. Don’t see me flying in a private jet, or driving a hummer everywhere, do you? Nope! Sorry, but my only means of transportation is a small little compact car that was barely 15000 bux, AND it’s not paid off yet. Yep, I drive an economic car while the ppl who say I’m rich drive hummers, bentlys, and roles royce’s… Oh, and I have a little pink bike that I ride around my town that I’ve had since I was 10. I think the politicians need a MAJOR paycut.