Andanh.com

I think George W. Bush deserves a raise. You're waiting for the punch line, I know. You're figuring with a setup like that, about a president whose popularity lives down where moles and earthworms do, the payoff's got to be a doozy.

Sorry, but there is no punch line because that wasn't a setup. I think the president should get a raise. Congress, too. And, yes, I know Congress' approval ratings are similarly subterranean.

But the argument I'm making has nothing to do with this individual president or Congress. It is, rather, about us, about what we want and deserve in our leadership. Here's the short version:

You get what you pay for.

If you want the longer version, well -- bear with me.