I've been watching the latest scandal in the US (Bill Frist going to join Justice Sunday event) and something came to mind.
There was a Romanian monk (N. Steinhardt) who wrote a nice book (Journal of Happiness) - mostly about his religious experience in communist jails. He was Jewish but converted to christianity (orthodox) and was baptized in prison. The guy's writing is amazing and some of the stuff I think is relevant to Kossacks.
He mentions the teachings of another orthodox monk (Parintele Cleopa) about temptations. There are two kinds of temptations, equally damaging:
1. Temptations "of the left" (no relation to the "political" notions of left/right) - which are classical (sexual excesses, greed, etc).
2. Temptations "of the right", which are more spiritual in nature. These are things like self-righteousness, the belief that you hold the absolute truth, the belief that you can judge others are included. These temptations (and the sins associated with giving in to them) are considered just as bad - if not worse - than the "left" temptations.
The people at the forefront of the "Justice Sunday" campaign are self-righteous, believe that they hold the absolute truth, and are more than willing to judge the others while ignoring their own shortcomings. They don't hold a monopoly on faith - they have just given in to these temptations.
One other thing he mentions (this one while he was in prison at Gherla, a famous communist prison for political detainees):
There is no point in fighting "the devil" (in that particular context, he meant communism) while taking the "high road". God wants his followers to be smart, and it's a sin to lose a fight with the devil just because you weren't willing to "get down" to his level. The example he gives is his lying to the interrogators about the people that were involved in the alleged "conspiracy" that he was arrested for. He lied about it (a sin, if looked at it in absolute terms), but he fought fire with fire. He got down in the dirt, but he didn't betray his friends, and some of them escaped prison.
He had evangelical protestant fellow detainees in prison who thought he should not have lied, that one should not lie in any circumstance. But even though he respected them greatly, he didn't believe they were right; he would have committed a worse sin by betraying his friends and the "good cause" he was fighting for.
This applies perfectly to the struggle between Democrats and Republicans. When Democrats take the high road and let themselves be fooled and suckered by Republicans who don't play fair, that's not "good reasoning", it's not something God likes. It's plain stupid and God doesn't like stupid followers. He likes smart followers that kick ass, even though they have to get dirty sometimes. "Good Reasoning" with a dose of "Common Sense" (in original - romanian - the notion of "Dreapta Socotinta") is what God values most. Absolute, immaculate perfection does not exist.