Let us never forget a most important truth: Whoever we support to represent us in government is who we are. Not who they are, but who WE are. The government officials who we support are a direct reflection of our own values, and you CANNOT separate the personality from the policies; they both originate from the same DNA and the same brain and the same body. Same with us. If you choose to cast your lot with a government official, you are backing one hundred percent of that individual–the policies, the proclamations, the personality, the persona. Can’t be any other way. A so-called leader’s policies, however abhorrent, reflect back directly on those citizens who fight to keep him/her in office. This may seem like an obvious statement, but a leader cannot survive and remain in office without at least a modicum of support from some segment of the populace. Suggesting otherwise–to suggest you revile a leader yet wholeheartedly support his policies–is pure and simple hypocrisy. In conclusion, then, you are not only properly judged by the company you keep, you are likewise judged–appropriately–by the politicians and so-called “leaders” who you embrace.
Fred's Soapbox 