“Mr. Farnham!” You think they are going to attack?” Her host shrugged. “The Kremlin doesn’t let me in on its secrets.” - Robert A. Heinlein

I believe that almost all politicians are honest. For every bribed alderman there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true, we would never have gotten past the thirteen colonies.

The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family. This is the level at which six pounds of mother cat can be so fierce that she'll drive off a police dog. It is the level at which a father takes a moonlighting job to keep his kids in college — and the level at which a mother or father dives into a flood to save a drowning child ... and it is still moral behavior even when it fails.

Old age is not an accomplishment; it is just something that happens to you despite yourself, like falling downstairs.