All of the bickering has had an effect. I'm reminded of my much more passionate younger days, when I pursued philosophy to the utter neglect of everything else. When I knew better than to believe in politics.
I had hope in this election cycle, for a while. But my cynicism has returned, and with it, a quiet resignation. The opposition "research" against all of the candidates, and the cumulative effect of small doubts and small-minded attacks reminded me of this favorite passage from Plato's Republic:
Then, Adeimantus, I said, the worthy disciples of philosophy will be but a small remnant: perchance some noble and well-educated person, detained by exile in her service, who in the absence of corrupting influences remains devoted to her; or some lofty soul born in a mean city, the politics of which he contemns and neglects; ...
Those who belong to this small class have tasted how sweet and blessed a possession philosophy is, and have also seen enough of the madness of the multitude; and they know that no politician is honest, nor is there any champion of justice at whose side they may fight and be saved. Such an one may be compared to a man who has fallen among wild beasts —he will not join in the wickedness of his fellows, but neither is he able singly to resist all their fierce natures, and therefore seeing that he would be of no use to the state or to his friends, and reflecting that he would have to throw away his life without doing any good either to himself or others, he holds his peace, and goes his own way.
He is like one who, in the storm of dust and sleet which the driving wind hurries along, retires under the shelter of a wall; and seeing the rest of mankind full of wickedness, he is content, if only he can live his own life and be pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good-will, with bright hopes.
Plato's Republic, Part III
It goes to show how little we have changed, how little the world has changed. It supports one conclusion: Fight as we may, we cannot overcome the corruption at the center of politics, no more than we can overcome our own natures.
Peace.