If you want a CEO then pay the President as a CEO.    My first choice in my first election was Romney, George Romney who was a CEO.

Goverment work is all voluntary?  Really - are you thinking of meeings at candlelight in Philadelphia?   It's kinda a sweet romantic image, but it hasn't been the case at any point in my lifetime.

But it's a good point on who pulls the strings.   Private enterprise has the money, the elected officials do not.  Money is power.   For those who doubt who calls the shots, just look at the money spent to influence legislators.    (I admit, it can be hard to tell if it's extortion or bribery.)

And you've been sold a bill of goods if you believe CEO are paid based on their personal competence or value to the company.    The wage is nothing more, or less, than the competiive market for such positions.  It has little to do with inherent value.    Wages are set 'at the club', it's a world seperate from our lives.