The argument for higher wages for elected officials, when they were instituted a long time ago, was that low wages would create extra incentives for those officials to act corruptly and siphon away public money. That’s an argument that made sense at the time and genuinely held water.

What has happened over time though, is that the loosening of rules around lobbying (read:bribing); the continual massive gains of the ultra-rich to line the pockets of those officials in order to sway public policy; and the capacity for elected officials to use confidential information to engage in insider trading, has meant that those officials act corruptly, just often not in a direct “steal from the public purse” sense.

The original argument no longer holds water. If we instituted severe restrictions on lobbying and fundraising for elected officials as well as rules that prevent insider trading, I’d have no qualms with elected officials earning large sums of money. If their wage is literally the only way they can make money, they should make good money. The problem is that their wage is not the only way they make money.