Sacrifice of Office

I found it interesting that the perspective that our Founding Fathers had toward their role in the new government that they created was a dutiful burden. Political office was not a prize of advancement but was in fact more often the reversal, in which serving in office was a sacrifice of not only time but income as well. Allowing for this understanding of the time we see a faction of their shining character. Today I cannot see a man running for office as one who is doing so without self interest. I cannot imagine a man who chooses to sacrifice in the senate or run for office simply because he feels it is his duty to serve others without any underlining self interest.
When we view the Founding Fathers with this insight into their cultural and chronological perspective, than than we can appreciate that they we not governed the selfish connotations associated with politics today, which critics have attempted to accuse the Founding Fathers with, but would elevate their company as a group of men governed by duty.