Sheriff Clarence Dupnick (Pima County, AZ)

"It used to be that politicians from different parties could sit down, forget about their ideology, and work on the country's problems.  We don't see that happening today.  As a matter of fact, we see exactly the opposite.  We see one party trying to block the attempts of another party to make this a better country."

It's a big assumption to think the Democrats are doing anything to make this country better.  The American people in general don't seem to be buying it...That's not what caught my eye about this quote, however.

More than anything 'Dipstick' Dupnick has a complete lack of historical perspective and reality, because politics has always been contentious:  In the early 1800's U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr killed U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  In the mid-1800's the Civil War was all about politics...These are just two of the better known and deadly cases.  Also, world politics (international and domestic in individual countries) is nasty stuff; a lot worse than anything we've seen in the U.S. since the Civil War.

Going forward I want to make sure those who follow my blog are educated enough to deal with reality, so let's set something straight, and get away from modern-day Liberal mythology:  Politics isn't about playing nice, politics is about power; government politics is about determining who will run the country...And please don't think for one minute Democrats don't know this.  They know it better than anyone, they just don't want anyone else to know it.

For proof of my statement about Democrats fully understanding political power one only has to look at the years 2008-2010, where they dominated American politics.  They used their power as forcefully and effectively (from a Liberal point of view) as any party ever has...They were the masters of the jam-down, and honestly left me jealous of their determination and political ability compared to their Republican counterparts who held similar power, but didn't know how to use it, from 2002-2006.

Carl von Clausewitz is famous for his commentary on politics:  "War is the continuation of Politics by other means."

But he had it backwards, because war came long before politics, and the Clausewitz/Pero Corollary is actually more appropriate:  "Politics is the continuation of War by other means." - Poison Pero

Either way, both are about power, and determining who wields this power...Politics is determining who rules without shooting at each other, which makes it much more civilized than war, but it is farcical for anyone to assume, or even hope, that politics is, ever will be, or ever has been civil.

I'm sure this makes me a huge radical, however...Probably #1 on 'Big Sis' NapoliReno's domestic terror watch-list.  Oh well, I guess it's a good way to start my New Year on this blog.