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The Monday Lament: Honest Crooked Politicians
And functionally sane, please
I remember realizing that an honest politician may not be what you need. We come to those realizations as we mature. The naivete of youth often involves taking things at face value and believing what you were taught in high school.
Following that, we learn something about reality in college and beyond, but the real lesson is reality when you realize there are different types of crooked politicians. It means understanding the complexity of human goals and standards that do not always follow our American elementary image of George Washington and the cherry tree.
My understanding of political reality came a bit later. I will not name people or locations because everyone is long gone, and it doesn’t matter for this lament. What is missing is the confidence that a good ‘corrupt’ politician is more effective than a true believer.
A true believer is a disaster waiting to happen, and it doesn’t matter what they are a true believer in. Religion and ideology are the worst, but most people over the age of thirty know that.
A good, crooked politician is not overly selfish but takes good care of their friends and those working for them. They work to do things for the good of their constituents and are careful about bending the…
