Most of our political officials are men and women of good character, who desire to serve in the public interest, and seek office only for idealistic purposes of providing good government.
But it is unfortunate that money often plays too big a part in politics. In many cases, it takes lots of money to mount a big political campaign, and “special interest” giving — rather than good character, sound political philosophy and the public good — may determine outcomes.
There’s a saying that “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.”
And it is cynically but sometimes correctly said that “We have the best officials money can buy.”
In the news this week was the story that former U.S. House of Representatives Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay had been convicted of illegally handling campaign money.