should we just stick our heads in the sand?

I don't pretend to be the most informed person when it comes to politics or world affairs. But I do watch the news (which is itself selective and schewed), I read newspapers, I enjoy reading people's opinions on sites such as this.

And I do think about the myriad issues of politics that ultimately affect every single aspect of our lives.

But I, like many people in the UK, tend to feel apathetic - like the vast majority of politicians are self-serving, corrupt, deceiptful individuals who are more hungry for power and money than serving the people they are supposed to represent.

I HATE the way that whenever you see a politician interviewed they can never answer a straight question with a straight answer.

I also hate the way that these supposedly (you'd hope) mature, responsible individuals jeer at one another like school children in the House of Commons.

I hate the way that people like Tony Blair can take us in to an illegal war and simply squirm his way out of responsibility for the disaster that has followed.

The way that coorupt people like Peter Mandelson (spelling?), can be recycled in to the current cabinet, or occupy less publicised positions in the European Parliament, purely because of the contacts they have within powerful political/economic circles.

Ultimately, like most of us, I feel total apathy towards the political system because it seems politicians are "all the same", that there will never be decent people, like Tony Benn, in power.

So I get disheartened, I go to work like a good little subservient being, then I spend my money and occassionally get roaringly drunk.

What can we do to get decent people with a conscience and a true desire to help the people they should represent (NOT rule) in to power? Will we ever have honest, straight talking politicians who can synthesise ideas between their Parties?

Or is the system inherently one that attracts power-hungry, self-interested people who just want to advance their own causes?

Should we just stick our heads in the sand and get on with our own little lives?