They get brickbats and they get backslaps, but generally more of the former than the latter.
We're talking about politicians, those people who put themselves forward to serve voters and stand up for what they believe.
For a long time the political landscape in Shropshire was straightforward - Tory MPs in all parts, with the exception of The Wrekin, which swung this way and that. In the modern era that pattern has been broken, and it's all to play for.
Over the years there have been big personalities, controversial personalities, and Shropshire MPs with notable long service.
Join us in remembering some of those who lit up the political stage in past times.
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1. Wrekin's top man
Bill Yates, the 1950s and 1960s Wrekin MP, clearly found a way to rope in his family to keep his name in the public eye. Here he is in September 1964 with wife Camilla and their children, from left, Mark, aged three, four-year-old Peter, and Tom, who was six. It won't have been a coincidence that a general election was coming up. The poll was on October 15 and Bill held the seat for the Conservatives. The picture was probably taken in Stirchley, where he lived. | Shropshire Star archive
2. Oswestry interlude in the life of Brian
Recognise this chap who was standing in the 1961 Oswestry by election? It's Brian Walden, who much later became a feared and respected television interviewer on the political show Weekend World. But he had had a 13-year career in politics as an MP, and his foray at Oswestry was his first punt at getting into the Commons. It is said that Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell prompted him to stand. It was a safe Tory seat which John Biffen duly won for the Conservatives, with Walden third for Labour. Walden would be elected to Parliament in 1964 in the Birmingham All Saints constituency. | Shropshire Star archive
3. Chingford skinhead is given a rug
Conservative politician Norman Tebbit, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster at the time of this picture, opening the factory of Brinton Telford Limited, at Halesfield, on July 10, 1986. Tebbit was one of the best known Tory politicians of Margaret Thatcher's era and had a reputation as a House of Commons bruiser, with one nickname for him being the "Chingford skinhead." After the opening ceremony at the carpet factory he was presented with his own bespoke carpet, although it actually looks more like a rug. Mr Tebbit is left, second right is the Wrekin MP Warren Hawksley, and right is company chairman Topham Brinton. | Shropshire Star archive
4. Bill's a winner
Joy and celebration for Bill Yates, his arms aloft, as he walks through the Square in Wellington following his being elected as the Conservative MP for The Wrekin. The late Michael Gwynne, who loaned this picture, said: "The man on Bill Yates' right is Edmund Dockerill (Conservative agent). My father, Norman Gwynne, is to Bill Yates' left and I think he was chairman of the Wrekin Conservative Association at that time, and to his left is Ronald Murphy, another official of the Wrekin Conservative Association." Mr Gwynne did not know the date of the picture but Yates was elected MP for The Wrekin for the first time in the May 1955 general election. He lost his seat in 1966 and afterwards emigrated to Australia, becoming an MP in the Australian Parliament. An enduring urban myth has it that when he emigrated he somehow took with him the original Wrekin Beacon and had it placed on the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge. But it isn't true. | Shropshire Star archive/Michael Gwynne