The problem might be that this is how the real world works, or the minds of most of the people who vote in democracies. While I admire Socrates more, didn't he essentially live like a bum? Maybe to really get enough influence to move something, you have to play the game.

Not that I like it - that is why I am a software developer, not a politician. The real hacker mindset would be to try to figure out how people's minds work and take advantage of it (for a greater good, of course).