On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 11:35:30 -0500, Michael Baier <[log in to unmask]>  wrote:

> Time for another Boston tea-party?

Would that not be a "political act"?  Would that not make the 
instigators "politicians" by definition? Given the premise that all 
politicians are inherently corrupt then the inescapable conclusion is 
that all participants in such a venture would be thereby corrupted 
themselves.

However, this absurdity is avoided because political systems and 
their participants are not inherently corrupt, they are inherently 
corruptible, as are all human endeavours be they church, state, or 
commerce.  Politics is an irreducible element of human existence 
because all social systems ultimately depend upon compromise and co-
operation between individuals who often possess widely divergent 
interpretations of the same evidence.  The process of obtaining this 
co-operation without recourse to violent coercion is politics.  The 
results are sometimes obtained for base advantage and sometimes for 
sublime good, but they are always attained by political action.


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