[makecheck]

I wish people who paid lots of government money for things were always forced to do so out of their salary. For example: we will pay you $X per year in exchange for giving you the responsibility to make up to 10 big purchases; each time you purchase however, 1% of the proposed sum comes out of that $X salary; now then, how judicious will you be?

One thing Ron Paul did in Congress years ago, after one of those stupid “let’s spend taxpayer money on a bunch of medals” proposals or something, was to rephrase that expense: he challenged Congress to simply donate a percentage of their own salaries to make it happen. After all, if it was so wonderful (echoing all the things other Congress members had stood up and said about the idea before then), and so worthwhile, surely they would personally not mind chipping in something, right? Predictably, a very small number of congresspeople were suddenly willing to go quite that far.

[epmatsw]

Reminds me of Not Yours To Give: http://www.constitution.org/cons/crockett.htm

[function_seven]

Thanks for that link. Great read.

[rmc]

I've often seen people propose things like that, such as congress being paid the average salary or maybe even no salary. However they're much more likely to take kickbacks if they have the power and not the money.

[makecheck]

Kickbacks are a risk, though that could also be balanced with harsh penalties such as minimum sentences for being caught accepting kickbacks.