I am going to try to respond--or at least read and think about--most of the rest of these comments when I get home from work.

But I wanted to say that I *do* think there are *much* larger worries at stake than the fee-fees of politicians. (I had never heard of the word fee-fee before, so I looked up the definition. It's good to learn a word for a thing you knew existed but didn't know the word for it).

Also, shahnasa, I think that the analogy you drew from your interpretation of buria_q's comment on political power and politicans' personal responsibility is a very poor analogy, for a number of different reasons, including the fact that those situations are not really analagous at all.

I'd be happy to talk about this with you more, via whatever method you prefer.