October 3, 2025

There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), British Conservative politician and prime minister, Vivian Grey (1826), Jay p.116

To what acts of treachery or meanness have you been witness? Were you ever the protagonist? If so, how did you justify it to yourself? Or did you not bother?

Politics is the arena in which all human emotions are on display, because it is where humans interact most consequentially. Honorable behavior is a wonderful thing and edifying to observe, but it is no more powerful as a type of human action than treachery or meanness and often much weaker than either.