Is There Value in Studying Philosophy in Politics?

I think what people want out of politics is the idea that the moral standards that we customarily observe in private life ought to apply in public life, but they just can't. So it's almost as if there's a special kind of conscience that a politician has to develop. Machiavelli did understand that for the sake of the good of the republic you have to do some things which in private life would be regarded as moral errors. And I don't want moral perfectionism and I don’t want cynicism. I want a kind of realistic humble appreciation that politicians do a kind of dirty job, but it's an absolutely necessary job for the survival of our republics.