April 22, 2025

Politics demands a certain rhetoric. It does not demand moral action to fit the rhetoric. Instead politics demands political action.

Julius Lester (1939–2018), American writer, Look Out Whitey! (1968) in The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.126

How clever are you at asking rhetorical questions? How convincing are you when morally outraged? How good are you at finding political solutions?

The great mistake of many is to view politics as a moral amphitheater. But the end goal of all action in that arena is a decision on how to deal with some matter, not in a “good” way, or an “evil” way, but in a way acceptable to a majority, at least in a democracy. As most legislation is morally indifferent, crusaders are best kept in short supply.