In the US, politicians are thought to be corrupt until proven otherwise. In my neighboring state, we had the the recent scandal of a crusading Governor who was forced to resign and was replaced by a man who admitted to multiple affairs ane to drug usage in his youth. In another neighboring state, there has been so many indictments of politicians that investigating politics there is a never ending job. The thing that hurts so much is the lack of reaction about the corruption from the population and the willingness to accept it as part of the way the system works.