sorry for posting so late in the game, but politics is not a game when the future of the country, its direction and who is in the drivers seat is at stake... this is the problem of why politics are as devisive as they are and it's because they are treated like a game rather than serious business... this notion of politics must stop here and now if the conservative message is to have any meaning at all...
.... and if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a trolley car...
Idealism is a great thing... however it is not always an effective thing. Your attitude is one of the reasons that we conservatives continue to lose. You are like this one voice in a stadium of 100,000 screaming fans saying..." The game shouldnt be played like this, the game shouldnt be played like this..."
That is all well and good however it will do nothing to change the system. Like it or not politics is a game and if you want to change that system you better get in control of the ball. Conservatives got into the game for control of the ball and we did several things to lose. One is we allowed a weak quarterback to be in control of the senate. Second Those that came to us with promises and request for donations already new conservatives would not use their muscle politically to keep their elected on track. So all they have to do is set up the football like lucy and yank it away with the " we will get forgiveness rather than permission" philosophy. Third Our own moral standards inhibit us from playing as hard as we can in this game.
Face it, most conservatives are not willing to do underhanded things to get their way politically because we live by moral standards that guide our lives. Liberals and socialists are not controled by anything so they are more than willing to lie, cheat,steal,and blackmail to get their way. Thus you have an opposing team that brings brass knuckles and broken bottles to a queensberry rules fight. And we are always suprised when they draw blood.
Additionally, and you saw this in congress, conservatives do not have the identity as "leaders". So the democrats play on that lack of identity as a weekness, calling our elected, meanspirited, racist, and they fold to their demands because they dont want to appear as that. This is a common act of someone that does not have an identity of a leader. Instead of saying, "call me what you want, but this is the direction that I am going because this is who we are", they assume whatever someone calls them could be taken as the truth so they blow over like a tree without roots.
The long and short of this Methadras is that you can scream and kick and say " this notion of politics must stop here and now if the conservative message is to have any meaning at all.." or you can say," by God we are going to get these issues passes regardless who we have to kill, abuse, bludeon, or rape politically"
That is the game, ( not agreeing or condoning it, it just is) play it or leave.