An Ominous Parallel?

"The fact remains that in all democratic nations the person of the
"politician" is treated with contempt, and "politics" are looked upon
by a healthy public opinion as a cocktail of deceit, lying, treachery,
double-dealing, graft, theft, insincerity, perjury, imposture,
dishonorable compromise and other vices. There is, however, a
time-lag between the disappearance of the general respect given to the
human organs of the constitution and that given to the constitution
itself. In countries where the constitution is not a mere "armistical
arrangement" but the survival of a grand, but defunct, republican
order, we often find a very considerable difference between the homage
paid to the constitutional order and the enthusiasm accorded to the
deputies and other elected representatives of the nation. Of this
discrepancy the citizens are sometimes not only conscious, but even proud.

To the historian this antithesis is neither new nor particularly
encouraging. After two hundred years of cheerful and ironic
anti-clericalism the Reformation came after all, and destroyed the
fabric of the Church in a number of nations."
-Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Liberty Or Equality p. 120 in the chapter "A
Critique of Democracy"