It strikes me more and more that politics is a kind of modern-day religion. Too many people seem to believe that government can solve all problems through some magical power of centralized coercion. Yet what evidence do we have that those in power truly care about solving the problems of the people? Sure, they say they care, but as far as I can see that's just talk so they can get elected and promptly ignore the people. Over two thousand years ago, Epicurus observed about the gods of the Greeks and Romans that "if they exist, they don't concern themselves with us". Today's politicians are just as poorly behaved as the Olympian gods of old, and they too concern themselves mostly with maintaining and exercising their own power. But I suppose that likening politicians to the gods of Epicurus is just a fancy way of restating the fundamental truths of public choice theory...