[mistermann]

I disagree: I think people genuinely do believe their own opinions, and politicians are also human....thus delusional, and corrupt, necessarily. But they ain't stupid (or at least their PR folks aren't): a well done (mis)representation of reality is well known to be more than adequate to fool most people most of the time, and misrepresenting reality is at the core of "successful" (depending on your perspective, I'm talking electoral and financial success) politics.

[rpmisms]

It is nearly impossible to make a man understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.

[mistermann]

Under conventional approaches, agreed!