Saying that power corrupts in no way contradicts the fact that the corrupt seek power. However, there is a pervasive myth that, "If only we get the right guy in office in this next election, all the corruption will be washed away in a tide of democratic virtue!" Remember how Trump was supposed to "drain the swamp"? Obama was the "peace candidate"? W. promised a "humble foreign policy"? I am certain all three were corrupt from the start, but they sold their campaigns on virtue. I think even Ron Paul and other politicians who have a reputation for fighting corruption were tainted by the power they held, though.