Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're talking about congressional salaries, and we're asking the question, can more money fix our government? This is prompted by an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times recently by Brendan Buck. He called it Pay the bums more. And he was arguing, believe it or not, for more money to be paid in a salary for congressmen and congresswomen. Now, I know unpopular opinion, but here's his argument. He's arguing that, uh, serving in Congress is becoming increasingly a less desirable job. It's becoming dysfunctional and unattractive to competent, ethical candidates. Part of the reason is because of the pay. Uh, so congressional salaries are at $174,000, which I realize is a good amount of money. But consider this. They've been at that level since 2009. So when you factor in inflation, they've lost about 32% of their value. They also have to live a lot of the time in Washington, D.C. which is an incredibly expensive city to live in. And $174,000 there, uh, isn't equivalent to 174,000 do where I live in Northeast Ohio. Uh, Buck also argues that that level of pay is not about, uh, rewarding poor performance. He doesn't think they deserve more money because they've done such a great job. He believes that they've done a lousy job because we're not sending our best and brightest to Congress. And one of the reasons we're not sending our best and brightest is because we're not paying them well. He also points to things like proposed bans on stock trading and other things that are designed, uh, to give the appearance of being ethical, despite the fact that there are already laws about insider trading, especially for elected officials, and instead have the unintended consequence of saying to anyone considering a congressional run, hey, you're not gonna make very much money. You have to live in D.C. and, oh, by the way, we're gonna limit, uh, demonstrably limit what you can make in investing. And as a result, more and more of the best candidates are simply opting out of public service. So he believes we should pay people in Congress more. And I actually happen to agree. This might be my most popular unpopular WLOO opinion of all time. The reason is because I think we have a culture that devalues leadership, and I think it's hurting us. And I also think it's not biblical. Consider, for example, in Deuteronomy 1 that Moses is told to choose wise, understanding and experience leaders. That even in the Pentateuch, when God's people are wandering in the wilderness on the way to the promised land, the message is clear and simple. You need good leaders. That's because people need leadership whether they're in a wilderness, whether they're in the promised land, or whether they are in America in 2025. By the way, the Bible doesn't just affirm the value of leaders, it affirms the value of paying leaders. Well, 1 Timothy 5, 18 says, the laborer deserves his wages, fair wages for leaders. That's a biblical principle. If you value leaders, if you believe we need leaders, then of course you compensate them accordingly. Especially when you understand that the best and brightest leaders can make much more on the open market. So if they choose a life of service, choose a life of sacrifice. We honor that by paying them a competitive wage. Underpaying leaders, by the way, doesn't produce a thrifty leadership. It tends to produce a corrupt leadership. This is why the writer of Proverbs In Proverbs, chapter 30, ver. 8, says, Give me neither poverty nor riches. He's saying to God, look, too much money corrupts me. Too little money corrupts me because it makes me start to compromise in order to take care of my family. Our goal should be to pay leaders enough that their heads aren't turned by lobbyists and others who seemingly see their value in a way that we do not. Leadership is service, not poverty. Look, mat mark 1044 does say, whoever wants to be first should be last. The biblical idea of leadership is laying your life down for the good of others. But that doesn't mean not being able to provide for your family, not being able to retire well, send your kids to college. That's not the sacrifice that we're talking about. Leadership is about putting the interest of the people you're serving ahead of yourself. We want leaders who do that, but we need to pay them so that they can listen. I don't know about you. I'm not looking at the work Congress is doing and thinking they need a pay increase. But I am looking at the work Congress is doing and saying, we need a better Congress. And if Buck is right, and I think he is, that means paying them more. But above all else, let's recapture a culture that, like God, sees the value of leaders, values leaders, and honors them in every way that we can to ensure we get the best leaders possible. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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