Well, hold on a minute, now...

Webster's says a politician is a person engaged in party politics as a profession. Webster's goes on to say that politics is the art or science of guiding or influencing governmental policy. I guess you could debate the interpretation of the English language and provide some credentials that qualify you to do so.

But wait, maybe ol' Merriam was in on some plot to eventually disrupt the "truthful and honest" running of the gov't. Of course, you'll have a hard time proving that since he's been dead a long long time. Maybe you can find a date/time stamped picture of him running around in clothing of today's fashion. That'll help your case...

C'mon... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />