While I get your point about tension, I actually don't think these are hard issues, it's just that our current attitudes have shifted so much. Just watch the mo

While I get your point about tension, I actually don't think these are hard issues, it's just that our current attitudes have shifted so much. Just watch the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." A different era, to put it mildly. Public servants should be expected to put personal considerations (and the considerations of their buddies, colleagues, industry) aside, and focus on the good of the society that elected them. That is clearly no longer a universally held attitude. Instead, we've suffered a whole generation of capitalist inculcation that holds as its core value that "enlightened self interest" is all that is necessary to drive society forward (and to be honest, the enlightened part has been pretty much dropped these days). Nothing matters if representatives are endless "positive-summers" who feel that their own good benefits society's good, no matter what they do. They'll believe (all the way to the bank) that they are doing honest good. They are that deluded. I blame the shift towards this on Ayn Rand and her ilk. > People are complicated and these are hard issues. In my experience few people show up intending to be completely selfish about their activities. Intentions don't matter as much as actions. The norm in Washington is self-serving, and the watchdogs and anti-corruption mechanisms have corroded and are breaking down. Corruption has taken over, and the system is rotting. The only thing that can fix it is going back to the rules, not the intentions. Consequences change behavior, and those require a functioning system that fights corruption and a dedication to keeping that system functioning. Instead, neither rules nor attitudes seem to matter these days.