I'm gonna be a jerk here and challenge this article. We are ultimately responsible for electing these people, tolerating their behavior, and giving them the marching orders that often lead to some of the bizarre things they do. I'm not saying that they system doesn't corrupt people, or at least favor those who are corruptible, and I'm not saying its easy for the people to change the system. But, we still vote for politicians based on campaign slogans and speeches and not on prior actions. We eat up and spit out anyone with a conscience because we think they look weak or indecisive. So, we end up with a bunch of arrogant narcissists because they thrive in that environment. We demand things from the government that are inherently conflicting. We all want the government to do something for us, but don't want to pay for it. We try to screw the system any time we can, which leads to more laws trying to close loopholes. I've been overseas enough to know that we have the worst government in the world, except for everyone else. I'm not sure what the right solution is, but I know I haven't seen it yet. If everyone took responsibility for their own behavior, we'd need no leaders and no laws, but we don't and I doubt there's anyone on this list or elsewhere who hasn't done things for their own selfish reasons, and thats what makes the system both necessary and dysfunctional. The best way to deal with these problems is to keep working at it, not destroying the system and starting over. All you'll get is a new crowd of people who will figure out new ways to abuse power.