Replies

Truman did not say "You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook." He did write "An honest public servant can't become rich in politics." Source - Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (1997), ed. Robert H. Ferrell, p. 306. Also quoted at "Harry Truman Speaks", on the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum website. But "An honest public servant can't become rich in politics." is logically equivalent to "You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook." - Modus tollens* * In propositional logic, modus tollens (/ˈmoʊdəs ˈtɒlɛnz/; MT; also modus tollendo tollens (Latin for "mode that by denying denies") or denying the consequent) is a valid argument form and a rule of inference. It is an application of the general truth that if a statement is true, then so is its contrapositive. To me, there is something perverse in politicians becoming rich in the words of Dr. Johnson "beyond the dreams of avarice."