What if we legally required politicians to work regular jobs 2 months a year?

9 pointsekoeko17 hours ago9 commentsView on HN

I was just wondering if some variation of this idea has been tried before?

You'll need to be strict with your definition of 'regular', as the offers from companies you really don't want them working for will flood in.

ekoeko16 hours ago

sure, i'm imagining a predefined list of like 20 jobs that they get to choose from. like truck driver, cashier, food delivery or construction worker.

b3ing14 hours ago

They’d probably pay someone to do the work for them, like drive the truck while they sit in the cab.

It’s a nice wish, but we don’t have that kind of power and they won’t put themselves in a situation like that by making a bill then voting on it. The fatal flaw of the constitution is it has no ethics or morals baked in, it should have things in there like employee handbooks do with a specification that amendments cannot change. Again wishful thinking.

HenryBemis2 hours ago

I see the segregation of duties falling apart. "My company" would hire that politician, set him on a nice office, air condition, unfiltered internet, an assistant, 4 SBUX coffees and pizza every day. And once the 2 months are out, let the favors begin!

yawpitch15 hours ago

How about they have to live off the lowest provided level of food assistance, with the lowest level of provided health insurance, and they don’t get paid until after they’ve left office and their pay is determined by a public plebiscite?

skyberrys10 hours ago

Now this would be something. But who would take a job so disruptive to their daily life. Like you have to go move out of your house, what about your family, do your kids have to switch school and lose healthcare, plus it's wasting resources on someone who doesn't really need it other than to experience it.

giaour14 hours ago

Most state legislatures work under a similar model -- being a legislator is full time work for a couple months of the year, and the rest of the time, delegates/senators are expected to have other jobs. (This is "enforced" by legislator pay being something like ~$10K/year.)

It's not a perfect system. There are very few jobs that just let you take off a couple of months a year, so legislators tend to have specific careers. Constituent services are required year-round, so legislative staff are full-time, year-round employees. And legislating has to happen quickly, so it's harder for citizens to interact and follow along with the process when they want to advocate for a bill.

the__alchemist10 hours ago

Remember the jet that went down over Iran a while back? People reading the articles were questioning why a Col was the isolated person. This is an example of this article's principle in action: If the bobs fly, they will have tacit knowledge about what's going on.

skyberrys10 hours ago

A few of the local politicians are also realtors. I couldn't imagine your run of the mill SWE job letting your employee take a 10 month break every year to be a politician on the side. Or are you imagining a corp that operates solely to give the politicians real work? Like you are a congress man part of the job is building walls for 2 months.