Nothing's More Important Than the Team

A bit from Howard Dean's first staff meeting as head of the DNC:

"He said that to compete and beat the GOP, these investments in people and organizations need to be made, and we will beat Republicans because they are a top-down organization that does not trust the voters - but we do."

Emphases mine.

But don't you think, Republican or Democrat alike, the desire to "beat" the other guys is what keeps us constantly at each others' throats?

Are we're finally acknowledging that this culture of political competition is nothing more than a big football game where winning is all that matters - regardless of common sense, patriotism and pragmatism?

I personally think it's the worst thing in the world that we can do now.

So many people choose up political sided and remain loyal to them like they do their favorite college or NFL teams, and God help anyone who says or does anything bad against that team.

How many people stick with Alabama, SMU, and Florida after all their recruiting/NCAA scandals? How many still vehemently deny their team ever did anything wrong, and that it was the "other guys" fault in the first place.

That's the way Democrat/Republican politics is now, and we're all too stubborn and proud to change it, much less admit it to ourselves.

This is not some stupid sport, people. It's not a game. It's real life, and if you believe in this kind of rhetoric you'd better start growing up, hanging up the cleats and living in the real world.