let qualified people in

[rraper]

ever wonder what would happen if a poor person filled all the senate seats? poor people know how to budget, how to save money when they can, and would not dip into the money that belongs to the countrys benefits. at least not like what the senators in those seats are doing now. i would love to take a nice long spa weekend, wouldnt you?

[madeara]

What a great idea.  That would certainly give our leaders a new perspective.

[hkckk5]

Good idea. They probably would be the best people to control spending of tax payers dollars. Also the job they do could be done at a much lower pay scale.

[aflyingmonkey]

Don't most start off poor & then become rich while they're in office.....  we can watch this in real-time with AOC -- although she's a congresswoman not a senator... but she started as a bartender, no insurance, & a credit score of 400 something. So all the wealth she now gains are from her current congressional position.

[Tresbn00]

Great idea! Filling the seat with someone who better represents the masses and not the small percentage that hold the nations wealth would be brilliant. People that do not have side interests or self serving platforms paid for by corporations or lobbying groups. Shorter, non-renewable terms might be nice as well so that we could keep the newly elected from becoming corrupted by lobbyists. Sadly these qualified people always seem to be working for a living or have families to attend to. I am not sure how politicians get vetted out prior to running for office but there must be a better, more comprehensive way of dismissing crooks, perverts and liars before they get into office? I would not make it into office and would not want my family exposed to the trauma that goes with it.

[gogeta_god]

ever wonder what would happen if a poor person filled all the senate seats? poor people know how to budget, how to save money when they can, and would not dip into the money that belongs to the countrys benefits. at least not like what the senators in those seats are doing now. i would love to take a nice long spa weekend, wouldnt you?

Ever heard of the lottery curse? A poor person who is perhaps good with money management, due to necessity, now has millions of dollars, and becomes very poor with money management, eventually going broke/back to poor. Happens more often then you'd think. The necessity of budgeting tightly goes away, so then their money management skills do as well. This is also seen with a lot of professional athletes (not all, but some).

And a personal budget is FAR different than the budgets and spending at a state or national level!

Sounds like a good idea at first glance, but is really not at all.

A more diverse congress / senate, comprised of those from different brackets of income, would be good though, as it would give insight from a variety of monetary backgrounds. Diversity is good. (This would include SOME, but not ALL being 'poor', as you suggested).

[countrygirl12]

ever wonder what would happen if a poor person filled all the senate seats? poor people know how to budget, how to save money when they can, and would not dip into the money that belongs to the countrys benefits. at least not like what the senators in those seats are doing now. i would love to take a nice long spa weekend, wouldnt you?

No actually most of them do not.  I have seen "poor people" paying for their food with a food stamp card while carrying the latest model of an iPhone.

They have their cart filled with steaks and name brand cokes.  Then cry when the chow doesn't last past the first week.

They can't pay the rent but they make sure their cable bill is paid.  And they have internet.

And I guarantee if they could use somebody else's money they would.  Oh wait, they already do. Welfare is from my check.

[countrygirl12]

Don't most start off poor & then become rich while they're in office.....  we can watch this in real-time with AOC -- although she's a congresswoman not a senator... but she started as a bartender, no insurance, & a credit score of 400 something. So all the wealth she now gains are from her current congressional position.

Some do.  Some don't.  Fact is the people would not vote for a poor person.  If you can't manage your money and pay your own rent how are you going to help run the country?

[countrygirl12]

Great idea! Filling the seat with someone who better represents the masses and not the small percentage that hold the nations wealth would be brilliant. People that do not have side interests or self serving platforms paid for by corporations or lobbying groups. Shorter, non-renewable terms might be nice as well so that we could keep the newly elected from becoming corrupted by lobbyists. Sadly these qualified people always seem to be working for a living or have families to attend to. I am not sure how politicians get vetted out prior to running for office but there must be a better, more comprehensive way of dismissing crooks, perverts and liars before they get into office? I would not make it into office and would not want my family exposed to the trauma that goes with it.

It doesn't matter who is in there.  A "poor person" would be worse because they would be more likely to take money.  They need it.  Personally I would not vote for someone who was poor.  If you can't make it and have to live off the government I certainly would not vote for them to run the county, state, or country.

[rraper]

all of these replies are correct. i do acknowledge  that a dishonest person whether poor or rich could take money that doesnt belong to them,you would think tho that the people in the seats now,with their own money, should know better than to take benefits out of the till for their own selfish use.

[vickysue]

I agree  some poor  people may be qualified to be in congress, but what about a certain waitress who was  voted in on the democratic side  No names here but  (AOC)  she is  such a trouble make all ready, But she  didn't even have an apartment  to move into  when she first  got to  Washington, Then boom she has a $70,000.00 dollar  van to  ride around in with a driver. I haven't seen anything our of her that is for the good of the country. Goes to  show money goes to their  head real fast.

[rraper]

everybody in this world isnt honest. and it will come back and bite them, all i know is those folks in congress have no business taking the money you and i "paid in" to take their pleasure trips. use their own money. and its not just the congressmen. its also other areas of the govmt.  ssa, irs. all of these should be reevaluated and tougher laws against those who are unfortunately for us left in charge of it

[sfreeman8]

I agree  some poor  people may be qualified to be in congress, but what about a certain waitress who was  voted in on the democratic side  No names here but  (AOC)  she is  such a trouble make all ready, But she  didn't even have an apartment  to move into  when she first  got to  Washington, Then boom she has a $70,000.00 dollar  van to  ride around in with a driver. I haven't seen anything our of her that is for the good of the country. Goes to  show money goes to their  head real fast.

She's being investigated for 2 FEC problems. The first is an FEC complaint about payments made to the congresswoman’s boyfriend Riley Roberts. The second is a complaint filed for misuse of House resources after AOC issued Roberts an official mail.house.gov email, despite her claims that he isn’t working for her office.

The National Legal and Policy Center filed an FEC complaint against Chakrabarti's Justice Democrats for allegedly funneling nearly $1 million between his PAC accounts (Brand New Congress PAC) and his Brand New Congress LLC and Justice Democrats in order to hide where the funds were being spent and dodge FEC reporting requirements.

[ancmetro]

     Poor or rich: Knowledge is power.
     Let qualified people in!

[vg7405]

That would be a much better idea. Personally, to a certain extent, the socioeconomic status of the person is not as important as their knowledge and ability to place the interests of their constituency at the forefront.