Lets be honest, most of us are at the point where we can just about get by despite what our politicians do with us rather than because of it.
They pull the levers of an education system that pretty much has a fetish for making us, dutiful, obedient, responsible, etc. I was once fairly sure that these qualities amounted to some kind of universal morality but maybe they just define us as useful idiots. Right now, US politicians aren't doing very much to help me with these gloomy musings.