This is worth repeating again and again because the conceit of government is that it can do more with 20% of your paycheck than you can and that the people elected to spend that 20% are put in place by voters who are voting in their best interest (or failed to vote in their best interest, if your guy lost the vote). People who win elections win because they are best at winning elections. In one-party states this means they are the best connected in the party machine - the actual election is a cakewalk. In battledground states this means the winning candidate has both a good inter party machine and an outer persona. Only a subset of their qualifications have to do with good governance.

You wouldn't give 20% of your paycheck to the guy on your street you like most just because you like him slightly more than the guy you like second most. But that is what you do every time you vote in a national election.