<HTML><HTML>In a message dated 11/19/04 12:07:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, lbo-talk-request@lbo-talk.org writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Politics should be about finding allies and converts, not smoking out heretics. </BLOCKQUOTE> The above statement is meaningless at this level of abstraction. Politics is about both. You must both win allies and separate yourself from enemies who don't always declare their enmity in the open. One must pay attention to what people do, not only what they say. Who are friends and potential friends and who are enemies depends on both the concrete situation and who, specifically, we are talking about.</HTML>