Mate, it wasn't wise to believe that in 1952 either. It's gotten worse, sure, especially at the top, but there are still thousands of "politicians" out there running local board meetings and trying to do their best to keep their communities going.
It has not gotten any worse. The rapacious greed of politicians in service to their own interest has been universal since the beginning of politics.
History would have some objections to what you believe. In defense of your position, however, the last 40 years (at least in the US) have been dominated by the ethos you describe, and the eras and the politicians who were not consumed by greed tend to be less common than the reverse.
"Universal" is a massive stretch. What seems more certain is that the many countries where your take is widely shared are less successful than the few countries where it is not.
Social media enables unseen before levels of fear mongering, misinformation and astroturfing. There are so many “issues” that were created and inflated to rile up voters it’s insane.
And these thousands still represent the vast majority. Vote for them.
Standing for an evil heinous party doesn't get offset by this, though, were it the case.