Anthony Eden, the former British prime minister, once said that corruption has never been compulsory. Watching our sad state of affairs that we call politics today, I’m not so sure.

Corruption is most readily defined as the act of lacking any moral character. I think that certainly applies to a number of our elected leaders in office today, from the local to the national level.

The latest stain on our way of governance came from Frankfort as Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer, according to the Herald-Leader out of Lexington, gave his girlfriend a cushy job in Frankfort at $5,000 a month just before his unsuccessful campaign for lt. governor came to a merciful end.

Was there nothing in Commissioner Farmer’s mind that made him think there may have been something wrong here, if not legally then at the very least morally?

It seems with politicians today we’re simply waiting for the next scandal, and these people are more than willing to oblige our appetite for ignominy.

It all gets old, really, and there’s little wonder why we have so few candidates out there who can really inspire on the campaign trail, or who, once elected to office, live up to that praise.

I can’t help but think that the American electorate is as hungry for that kind of candidate as we’ve ever been. Personally, I’d just like to see a candidate come along who is in it for the right reasons, politics be damned.

There are way too few elected officials who fit that bill, and I personally can only think of a handful.

I’m tired, to be honest. I’m tired of reading about corruption. I’m tired of hearing hollow promises from talking heads in Washington who on the surface seek to hold themselves accountable with harsh repercussions for failure, and then do little to avert that failure three months later.

I’m tired of hearing one side lay blame at the feet of the other, no matter that the culpability is just heavy on the left side of the aisle.

I’m tired of apologies from disgraced politicians, who only offer those apologies after their vices are brought to the surface.

But most of all I’m tired of being lied to by the very people who hold positions of power only by virtue of our democratic process, and not by any inherent right to station.

At this rate we’re never going to be the nation that our forefathers hoped for. We may be the best country on earth, but because we have elected officials who care so little for their responsibility and duty as a public figure that they brazenly defy any sense of morality for personal gain, then there’s work to be done.

And right now it seems that we’ve got a lot of it to do.