What if?
Always Right, Usually Correct plays an interesting game of "what if?" w.r.t. the question of public employees campaigning while being paid by the public.
Perhaps we need to think about this more. What are the various permutations of this concept? What if we just separated it from the campaign season and paid them by the hour anyway? You know, punch-in, punch out?
I don't think it's any secret -- is it? -- for example that a great deal of time spent by politicians in Washington is actually spent at the RNC or the DNC dialing for dollars. What if we stuck an old Simplex machine over there and they punch in/punch out there and then that time is deducted from the salaries?
I've heard it said -- and I have no idea if it's true -- that Congress actually meets about 90 days out of the year.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
What if we paid prosecutors on the basis of the number of cases they win? Sure, it could lead to abuses of the system, but the system has a cure for that too. Jail.
How 'bout this? How about elective office is a non-paid position? I'm just noodling out loud here but let's think about this a bit. It wasn't long ago that baseball players had to go get real jobs in the off-season. Did that make them more "grounded" in reality?
Statewide, there's that report from a task force that said one of the ways to improve Minnesota lawmaking is to pay Minnesota lawmakers more money. But what if it were a volunteer position? Would it speed things along a little bit? Would it lead to shoddy lawmaking? Bribery? Scandal?
And I haven't even brought up my idea yet of moving the nation's capital around every year from city to city. Fargo? Your day is coming, my friend.
Discuss.