Politics. Honest career. Pick one.
Do some people enter politics because they just want power or they want to polish their ego? Sure! But that doesn't mean everyone in the industry is inherently a bad actor.
Even politicians (as opposed to staffers) sometimes take stands on moral issues - that would hurt them politically (rare but it happens)
Most people I know in the political realm are looking for a paycheck without having the bother of producing anything.
A cynic could say they're just resume padding to sell out later, but if you're trying to mooch off of the taxpayer, being a low level capitol staffer is NOT the way to go about it.
Ben Franklin, 1787
http://www.bartleby.com/268/8/12.html
"Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice—the love of power and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but, when united in view of the same object, they have, in many minds, the most violent effects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The vast number of such places it is that renders the British government so tempestuous. The struggles for them are the true source of all those factions which are perpetually dividing the nation, distracting its councils, hurrying it sometimes into fruitless and mischievous wars, and often compelling a submission to dishonorable terms of peace.
And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters? It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your government and be your rulers. And these, too, will be mistaken in the expected happiness of their situation, for their vanquished competitors, of the same spirit, and from the same motives, will perpetually be endeavoring to distress their administration, thwart their measures, and render them odious to the people."
Totally agree.
yep, sounds like he is just young and thus naive.
> working for the government to help develop systems that deliver water to people whom would otherwise not have enough water to survive.
government and water at places where not enough water ... what can go wrong here ... Chinatown.
As a sidenote, it is interesting that water issues underlie so much CA politics even now, many decades later, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.
Lots of people just spend their lives trying to research how to make the world a little less crap, or planning infrastructure, or trying to keep people in housing. With limited resources, and a system that backfires on them from time to time because they've relatively little power in the grand scheme of things (depending on government structure and incentives) but that doesn't make them bad people.