People don’t go into politics for the paycheck because only the wealthy and the incumbents have the ability to sustain a months-long campaign. That’s the real reason we have people in Washington who represent Wall Street instead of Main Street.

Indeed, campaigns should be in the public interest. Nobody should be able to accept donations from anyone for a run for office. They should receive budgets from the FEC and it should be illegal to use any money for the campaign above and beyond that, even their own. That would solve a lot of problems. Run out? Tough. This eliminates an awful lot of conflicts of interest and allows candidates to run on their own merits.

That's meaningless without doing away with Citizens United. All the real money goes into the slush funds and not the campaigns.

I agree completely. They should not exist either.

My fear is that the FEC rules would be written in a way that discourages third parties, or non-incumbents.

You mean like they are now?

One of the problems that creates is only certain types of people can afford to go into politics. Improving the pay for staffers might go a long way to reduce some of the revolving door cycles that many people find so distasteful

I don't see how it helps.

The expensive part is GETTING elected, not serving. If you don't have the resources to win, the salary doesn't help you.