I grew up in Louisiana and thought only LA politicians were crooked and shady. Â As I matured, I started to feel it was a broader issue. Â Once I moved to Texas, I was surprised to find our politicians were just as bad as LA, but it was more obvious in LA because many of them liked to brag about their exploits (eg Edwin Edwards).I think some new members of congress go into office as honest people, but in order to get anything done, they have to play the DC game and the game changes them. Â In addition, some crave the power and let it go to their heads. Â Without anyone holding them accountable (for anything except blatant transgressions), they quickly forget that rules apply to them. Â Politics have shifted from "what's best for the people" to "what's best for ME and my large donors/sponsors".
@Retired_Engineer: a couple other things to consider... some of the people who run for office are the biggest ******* shysters and that's why they are attracted to politics and power. like some shysters are attracted to real estate or brokerage etc. remember i said 'some'....  it has always been this way even tho it is cleaner now than it was in 'the good old days'. before the passage of the 17th amendment, senators were elected by their state legislators who were controlled by political machines and/or the guy with the big wallet in their state. those political machines were often either run by or subservient to the 'powers that be' in the individual states. what that means is that the senators were under the thumb of the very wealthy and the corporate robber barons of the day. while we still have way more of that than is healthy (think 'citizens united'), our elected representatives to both the house and senate are way less direct employees of outside interests and less crooked than they used to be. that doesn't necessarily mean they all are more ethical or 'moral' out of choice but rather they are smart enough to know there are records and webcams and cellphones everywhere out in the world. and of course we still elect dumbshits who essentially get caught with the frozen fish in their shorts
4951