I agree. Make them wards of the state. Corruption has been far more destructive than incompetence, because corruption filters for and protects incompetence. Let public servants make a sacrifice.

I increasingly think something like this is the way. You can only get money out of politics by putting money into politics. We have to align incentives correctly, and money is the way to do it. Nobody would every run a business where they pay their leaders $170k but allow those same leaders to make millions from outside stakeholders by leveraging their job role in ways that don't align with the company's goals. That's what politics currently looks like; the incentives are quite literally as backwards as is possible.

We're a capitalist society. That doesn't mean "let companies do whatever they want, including buying politicians", it means "we use capital as a means of setting incentives to drive good outcomes". Let's use our capital incentives correctly to drive good outcomes from our elected leaders. They work for us.

Nobody sane would take that deal.

Only on HN is a 1 million dollar salary a bad deal

It's a bad deal for the kind of people who are capable of succeeding in national politics.

Nobody sane would take $1M USD per year for life?

Call me insane I guess.

Which part? If you get elected to the Senate, you and your kids are set for life.

Do you really want people greedier than that running the country?

A million dollars per year for life? Most people would kill for that deal. Not the HN crowd, but most people without hesitation.