We could challenge all members of Congress and all levels of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our great government to agree--or through pressure and public activism, to be made to agree--to reductions in pay and benefits during times of economic recession and to have all their future raises be determined by an external process. This is key to showing the hypocrisy in the GOP "criticism" of the cost of "big government." Those lifestyles they live by the taxpayers is a true contributing factor to our debt. Furthermore, if they finally become actual stakeholders in the laws that affect the tax-based income, they might actually vote in a more financially sensible way.
Why is this important?
I believe that for too long an internally supervised process has created grave injustice in the salaries and benefits that lawmakers "earn" as "public servants." Throughout the difficulties of the economic recession none of them has had any reduction in salary or benefits, while an extremely high number of Americans who pay the taxes that pay their salaries have had to face major economic setbacks.
