GMAT Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 6

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
“Government” does not exist as an independent entity defining policy. Instead there exists a group of democratically elected pragmatists sensitive to the electorate, who establish policies that will result in their own reelection. Therefore, if
public policy is hostile to, say, environmental concerns, it is not because of governmental perversity but because elected officials believe that ______