Veteran politician to political upstart: “Son, the key to a successful career in politics is sincerity. The sooner you learn to fake that, the better you’ll do.”
Brilliant! Although probably not so directly, I’d wager all newly elected members of Congress receive that message in one way or another within their first week. One of the greatest movies ever filmed, ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,’ made exactly your point about insincere ‘sincerity.’ Even though in fiction the hero almost always has to win, ‘Mr. Smith’ is still the most honest look behind the curtain of politics. The point of it is as true today as it was then.