Actually, the thought goes a little deeper then that.

The whole system needs to be revamped.

Congressmen and Senators should be allowed to spend a certain amount of money on their campaigns. Commercials that mention their opponents or talks about what their apponents did or did not do would be illegal and immediately yanked of television and radio. There would be no fancy perks - take away the gym and all the rest of the crap that they have access to for free. Pay would be based on the median average of the constituents that they represent. Pensions would be based on pay and payraises would be on par with the rest of the country. They would be allowed to serve no more then 3 terms and if they weren't doing their job (representing their constituents and working to make their lives better) then they could be fired. Any activity that could be considered criminal would be reported to the police both in their district and in D.C. and anyone involved in covering up said activity would be vulnerable to facing the same charges.