Nearly all Americans agree that Congress has become a sad joke – a blight of irritating gnats.

How exciting, then, that a consultant to top Republican lawmakers has figured out how to make Congress better. Ready? Raise the members’ pay!

Golly, why didn’t I think of that? After all, who wants to work for only $174,000 a year (plus full health care, a really nice lifetime pension, and a flock of personal staffers to do the heavy lifting)? This congressional insider insists that such compensation is way too paltry for the best-and-brightest types Congress needs, so they choose Wall Street or corporate careers, rather than public service.

“Ask any corporate leader,” he asserts, and they’ll say “talent is everything.” And, he explains, it takes serious bucks to “attract and retain talent.” So, the answer to getting a better Congress is easy, he writes: “Let’s start by doubling their salaries.”

Excuse me, but let’s not.

While money is the reason Congress fails to represent the common good of America’s workday majority, their paychecks aren’t to blame. Rather, it’s the corrupting power of the unlimited dollars that corporations and billionaires are spewing into our elections and lobbying campaigns, literally buying the special-interest Congress that Americans despise.

The obvious problem with Congress is not that members don’t get enough money, but that they take too much. Don’t even think about raising congressional pay before outlawing congressional payoffs! Besides, anyone who’ll only commit to public service work if their pay is doubled is not committed to the public, to service, or even to work. They’re narcissists, committed to themselves – and Congress already has an excess of those.

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