Exactly. It doesn't make sense to fight politicians, because they pretty much have no agency. They are public faces to the decisions made inside the system that is both influenced from outside (lobbying, et al.) as well as having its own power dynamic. If you're a honest, well-meaning, incorruptible politician, you'll get filtered out from the system at early stages. No one is going to let you take an important seat if you're uncontrollable.
Fighting politicians is like whack-a-mole - even if you get rid of bad ones, the replacements are often just as corrupt as the ones that got replaced.
Fight the corruption first.