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[–]cmdrrockawesome 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Idealism is all great and good, but it's not always realistic. And I'm not saying it's entirely based on greed. It's about practicality. If you're expected to take on the added costs of a second residence, while still maintaining your primary residence in your home district, you could definitely find yourself running into financial troubles if you aren't compensated adequately. Well, at least the average citizen would probably find themselves running into issues.

It's a delicate balance. You attract people to a position with a number of things -- power, prestige, influence, and money. There are probably tons of qualified candidates out there who want to get into politics and want to make a difference, but simply can't afford to. Maybe they're making too much and have to support their family and their business. Maybe it's something else. You have to make the job attractive enough to entice people who are on the fence.

You're not always going to be able to rely on a person's altruistic nature to get them to run for office. Not in the real world anyway. Not when they have financial and personal obligations to overcome.