I'd cut congress' salary to $100,000 a year vs the 175,000 or so they make now... With salary only raising for "price of living" adjustments or nationally voted raises voted every 4 years during the presidential elections.
but it really wouldn't do much to the budget, or to making congressman more "in touch" with the regular man.
To be a serious candidate for congress you usually have to start by proving yourself to be a success in some way. Not many people are going to want to elect a Wal-Mart cashier to government office because they have no leadership experience or probably much knowledge on how government works.
So your best hope is to vote in "self made" rich people. Though they rarely are popular because self made men are usually Libertarians because well... they know how to make successful businesses... and self made men are usually "live and live" types socially because well, they started off in a place where they often weren't treated as well.
