Cynicism is very cooler-than-thou, but it's not because we don't know better.

It's because we do know how the system fails, and holding power accountable to those high aspirations is the only thing that pushes back the equilibrium.

well, to be fair, there are a higher-than-average number of business owners on here, so they really might work for them

It's logistically a fact. Their paycheck comes from taxpayers. If you believe they're doing a bad job it's unrelated.

I understand what you're saying, but I was speaking in the ideal or purpose, rather than the defacto/pragmatic.