Many people do not realize that many politicians make 6 figures (well over $100,000.00) a year. In addition, they continue to receive the same pay even after they are out of office as part of their retirement plan. Many politicians will make over $8,000,000.00 (yes that is 8 million) in just ten years of retirement. Most people will never see this kind of money over their entire lifetimes. If they were forced to work for minimum wage, then they would change things because they are used to living like kings and queens, literally. It would weed out the crooked ones that are only in politics for the money (which is gotten ridiculously extreme), and the ones left would be the ones there to make a difference. You say that no one in their right mind would work for minimum wage, but billions of people do it every day. They do it because they have to work and support their families, and most jobs will not pay you any more than that. They work for minimum wage because they have to. Well, politicians have to work and support their families also. If they have to work for minimum wage, then either they will change things for the better for all of us, or change careers. If the only reason some are there is for the money (which that is the case for many) then making them work for minimum wage will make them want to change careers opening a spot for someone who will do the job for the greater good. In addition, to many people are making careers out of politics (and a large reason for this is the money). However, politics is not supposed to be a career. Serving as a politician is supposed to be a service to your country. When you serve you term, you are suppose to step down to allow another person the chance to serve the country. That is why there are limits to the number of terms a person can serve. Politicians get around this by going from office to office and from state to state. Why? For the money of course. These people are greedy and have manipulated the system to work for them instead of the people they are supposed to be serving. So yes, lowering wages for politicians would solve many problems. The country would probably save billions in tax dollars that could get us jobs for this failing economy or healthcare for the billions that cannot afford it and cannot get help from the failing Medicaid system. The politicians that would run for office at minimum wage pay would do it to change things for the better because they surly would not be making lots of money.