Some 30 years ago I had this discussion with my dad. I was thinking about getting into politics, I wanted to be a difference maker. He said something to the effect of, you may think you'll do good work. But you won't. You will be dragged down by the system in short order and forget why you entered into politics. If you don't get changed by the machine, you'll wind up taking favors that will be make you beholden to interest groups. It's human nature. And then he was like, there are a long line of people who were good when they started or wanted to do good and went there for all the right reasons. But they were broken.

You basically frame the point...The biggest reason shit doesn't get done is the wall of money and politicians bought by private interests. There's nothing cynical there, it is just what it is.