This started out as a comment to
doinaheckuvajob's attempt to head off a "innocent" sabotage of GOP GOTV efforts. As you'll see, I don't endorse the "high road' in this dispute.
This very evening I was browsing through Borders and I saw a book on "Zen Politics" and one on "Buddhist Politics." They were both interesting and uplifting - especially the Buddhist one, which is a collection of essays from different writers. And after thinking how I wish the world of politics could be this way, I had a (very small) epiphany.
Politics is the mess it's in because the Left gave the Right the benefit of the doubt. When Gingrich crafted his "Republican Revolution" we said, we'll show them what the Loyal Opposition is all about. We'll support programs that look like they can do some good - even though we may not like them, and we'll work on bipartisan solutions to the things we disagree on.
And they ran over us like Mel Gibson after Tequila Shooter Night at El Torito's.
We extended the olive branch in hopes of working for a better America, and they snatched it from our hands, dried it, smoked it, and then blamed us for both the burn marks on the couch and running out of Oreos.
This time, we're playing by their rules. It's not "An Eye For An Eye." It's poke out the other guy's eyes and kick him in the groin before he even knows you're in the same room. After we take back the government and reverse the perversities they've inflicted on America, then we can show them what Grace, Compassion, and Noblesse Oblige are all about.
You can't reform a serial mugger when he's holding the gun. You can't get Republicans to act bipartisan when they're in the Majority.