That's a Nice Narrative You've Got There

Of course, if you want to sell me the tree, I'll need to see the fruit.
I've been thinking a lot about the appearance of things versus the reality.
God prefers obedience to sacrifice; if we aren't careful we'll just see the sacrifice and assume everything's kosher. Fruit, what fruit? Often people will point to the appearance and say, look at that, you just don't normally see that, so it must be proof! But that's just circular reasoning.

Anyway, Russ Roberts just recently wrotePigs Don't Fly: The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics
. He makes a strong case for being extra wary precisely when politicos are acting the most selfless and/or the most pious.

Worth looking into.