Many mean things have been said about politicians. They have even been skewered by a fanciful etymology for the word politics: poly, as in polygon, polygamy, polyglot, and polytheistic, means “many” — and ticks, well, ticks are blood-sucking parasites! Have you heard that they’re now replacing laboratory rats with politicians? First, there is a shortage of laboratory rats. Second, you’re less likely to develop affection for a politician. And, third, there are some things that laboratory rats just won’t do. Ambrose Bierce sardonically defined politics as “A strife of interest masquerading as a contest of principles." Robert Louis Stevenson noted that “politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.” Ronald Reagan declaimed, “Politics is supposed