Why we love politics We live in an anti-political moment, when
many people — young people especially — think politics is a low,
nasty, corrupt and usually fruitless business. It’s much nobler
to do community service or just avoid all that putrid noise. I
hope everybody who shares this anti-political mood will go out
to see “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg and written by
Tony Kushner. The movie portrays the nobility of politics in
exactly the right way. It shows that you can do more good in
politics than in any other sphere. You can end slavery, open
opportunity and fight poverty. But you can achieve these things
only if you are willing to stain your own character in order to
serve others — if you are willing to bamboozle, trim, compromise
and be slippery and hypocritical. The challenge of politics lies
precisely in the marriage of high vision and low cunning.
Spielberg’s “Lincoln” gets this point. The hero has a high moral
vision, but he also has the courage to take morally hazardous
action in order to