Most politicians are corrupt. There are no true ANYTHINGs anymore. Its the very nature of politics, making deals with the devil and sometimes for the devil or in rare cases, BEING the devil or working directly for him.. I am sure many get into politics with the intention of doing good or even helping to clean out the corruption, but politics by it very nature is not able to stand up for right against wrong. We have 300 million people, more or less in this nation and I doubt that even the very best of them are right all the time. So now if you take out the 10% who are so honest they would never consider going into politics, or hanging out with politicians, that still leaves 90% who break the rules once in a while. Subtract the 30 % underage and not able to run. That leaves about 60%. Of those, subtract another 50% who ADMIT they aren't totally honest ALL the time. The ones who forget to put on their seatbelt or that talk on a cell phone while driving (once in a while), or go a few miles over the speed limit every day. The ones that may try to cut in front of you at the last minute from the other lane or speed up well before the intersection when caution light comes on. Even the ones who take extra condiments from the restaurant to take home with them. Many of us fit in that group.
That leaves the ones who seldom admit mistakes unless it makes them look better, or are receiving a direct benefit. The ones who are good actors right through til the end. The poker players you can't read. The ones who'll do anything to win. This is the group politicians seem to come from. If you subtract the 1-2% who are already in prison, the 1% who are incapacitated physically or mentally. That leaves somewhere between 5% to 8% to become politicians. The same 5% to 8% that keep running and the same group that go in and out of office. The same group that includes lobbyists for all the big corporations, the same group that run all our States and Cities.
And yet some folks are surprised when another politician is arrested almost every day for corruption, or caught in some infidelity, or sexual perversion in a public restrooom. This is what they do. They try to fool some of the people most of the time.
I think some say they are Democrats because the think it will get them elected by the corrupt unions. Some say they're Republicans for the fanatical religious right vote. Some are Independents because the want to be able to represent the people better even though getting elected may be harder for them.
I also believe a few of the ones that get elected on either side are REALLY trying to do better for the people and the country, so I think the labels of Democrat or Republican can be misleading and if we vote for someone it should ALWAYS be for the PERSON and not the Party. I think the two party system makes it harder to elect good PEOPLE because you think you're voting for certain principle with a certain party and that in some cases is exactly the opposite.
We need to study the PERSON running and their accomplihments or drawbacks rather than by party. I don't think there are any TRUE Republicans, Democrats or even Socialists. I think individuals are a mixture of these things and we should know who we are voting for as an individual, not as a party member.