A deficit that's among the worst in nation. Declining state support for higher education. An economy that's been less than welcoming to new businesses. And a state house that resembles a sandbox, or perhaps more accurately, a litter box. Any one of those would probably be reason enough to lambast a lawmaker for accepting a pay raise this year.

However, we won't. Call us crazy, but even given the depressingly surreal state Illinois finds itself in, denying lawmakers a pay raise won't solve anything. In fact, it may make problems harder to solve in the future.

Of course we hesitate to say they "deserve" a pay increase. The word implies just compensation for a job well done. Any Illinoisan not living under a rock would be hard-pressed to say that they do.

But we should try to separate our anger toward our current state leaders and instead consider the positions they occupy.

A democracy should strive to maintain a representative sample of the electorate. While this obviously means voting, it also means quite a lot when it comes to who decides to run for public office in the first place.

While the national economy is in the doldrums, many are forced to make more of their decisions based on their pocketbooks. Unfortunately, this frequently means that potential officeholders conclude that the hassles associated with the job just aren't worth the money.

The result is candidates who can afford to take a comparatively low-paying position while squeezing out people of average means.

A candidate who decides to run for office should at least be entitled to a position that covers the cost of living and allows for the holder to concentrate on doing the job well, as opposed to making sure ends meet.

We're confident that there is an untapped mine of common sense within the Illinois electorate. If the average person could feel more at ease about committing the time and resources to running for and holding public office, it would go a long way to fix what ails Springfield.