Martini. Floyd. La Follette.

We live in a time where increasingly our national leaders are more like dons of crime than statesmen, where notions of plausible deniability replace truth, and claims that politicians never knew of evil done in their own names by others are commonplace. It is the age of unbridled arrogance and video showmanship, where the challenge ‘ prove what I knew and when I knew it ‘ has become a national motto. A perfect politician is: glib, superficial, manipulative; a great sense of self and a natural talent for a profession for which lying is usually listed at the top of the job description. In short, the clinical definition of your average sociopath. Steve Martini.

Capital sees politicians as a means to their ends, just another employee, or a potential bankable asset. And politicians, whoring themselves to the highest bidder, write their laws for a seat at the table. Some politicians aren’t directly on the take but, it’s hard to imagine, that, while on the public’s dime, they’re at least not on a job interview. Capital rewards their loyal underlings with no-show jobs for their idiot relations. Gary J. Floyd.

The official obeys whom he serves. Nominated independently of the people, elected because there is no choice between candidates so nominated, the official feels responsibility to his master alone, and his master is the political machine of his party. The people whom he serves in theory, he may safely disobey; having the support of his political organization, he is sure of his renomination and knows he will be carried through the election, because his opponent will offer nothing better to the long suffering voter. Robert Marion La Follette.