The Trope Of The Corrupt Politician

One of the few things that many conservatives and liberals share common ground on is the widespread suspicion that a great number of politicians hold office for the sake of personal gain rather than the wellbeing of the public.  Everything from casual jokes to entertainment reinforces a popular perception that this suspicion is warranted.  While it is true that many politicians are corrupt, hypocritical, and selfish, it is nonetheless fallacious to treat the word politician as a synonym for a corrupt person.

Cynicism about the general state of politics is not irrational, but a cynicism that entails assumptions about the moral character of an individual person simply because of the actions of another person who shares the same occupation is unsound.  Short of an occupation itself being intrinsically immoral (and the existence of governments is not itself evil), it is ironically unjust to assume negative things about someone simply because of those around them--not to mention the fact that assumptions, positive or negative, are by nature irrational.

Being a politician doesn't necessarily mean that a person is corrupt, contrary to common populist stereotypes, nor does it mean that a person is on an inevitable decline into injustice.  It is entirely possible to be immersed in the political world without taking a course of action that is unjust.  The nature of many political systems, though, makes reform slow and difficult to the point where established corruption can only be removed by replacing the vast majority of the politicians in office.  That corruption is entrenched in many governments, however, does not say anything about the moral character of every individual politician.

Many politicians are certainly incompetent, unintelligent, and inconsistent, but this is only because most people are incompetent, unintelligent, and inconsistent.  When people as a whole are intellectually and morally useless, it is hardly surprising that a given governing class is also useless, especially if that class is appointed by the vote of the governed.  It is not as if holding a political office automatically makes someone malicious or selfish.  While there might be a high number of useless or unjust political leaders, leadership itself is not a mark of corruption.