Santayana once commented that “fanaticism is redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.” (not directly germane, but quotable is Churchill’s definition of a fanatic as “someone who won’t change their mind, and won’t change the subject.”
As I see it, politics serves two principle purposes for people. For genuine Liberals–whose views on an array of issues can differ quote considerably–the point of politics is to get things done. They have concrete problems they see, and they are willing to vary their means of solving them, never losing focus on the end goal. As an example, a true Liberal would realized that the ways we have been trying to end poverty in the inner cities haven’t worked. They have been tried, and they have failed. This means continuing to do what has always been done is necessarily counter-productive, since it is throwing good money after bad. We have to understand the system in place, and work that point forward to new ideas.
Yet, for many people politics serves a very different purpose. For them, it is an end in itself, since it leads to a sense of meaning, a sense of belonging, and to power, all of which motivations can be mixed together at once. Note, though, that these are all selfish, personal goals. We can take it for granted that that inner reality will invariably be cloaked in rhetorical appeals to the common good, sacrifice, and nobility, no matter where that person is on the political spectrum.
For that reason, the only politicians who are to be trusted are those who already have a sense of meaning, already belong to a community, and who do not desire power. Logically, then, good politics is simply an outflow of Goodness, generally. Logically, then, the only way to solve our political problems, in the long run, is through a reinvigorated, serious pursuit of moral virtue. I have made this case many times, in different variations.
This leads to the necessary conclusion, though, that efforts to muddy the moral waters, and to stymy or prevent coherent moral discourse necessarily lead to human suffering that is unnecessary, particularly in the long term.
Like any other problem, the problem of what to do and why to do it can be solved through discussion. The moment that discussion ends, though, without good answers, the stage is set for misery. In many respects, we are at that crossroads right now. Moral relativism is a rejection of the possibility of meaningful moral debate, since it has already rejeced in advance the possibility of an answer, outside the confines of blunt power.