I do like this quote from Edmund Burke from his Thoughts on the Present Discontents. This text was a political tract, published in 1770, mordantly critical of the ways of George III with Parliament. The quote is courtesy of Russell Kirk.
In the essay Kirk refers to, Burke defines the phrase "political party". He says:
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.... Party is a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. For my part, I find it impossible to conceive that anyone believes in his own politics, or thinks them of any weight, who refuses to adopt the means of having them reduced into practice. It is the business of the speculative philosopher to mark the proper ends of government. It is the business of the politician, who is the philosopher in action, to find out proper means towards those ends, and to employ them with effect."
That is a good account of philosophy in political life: the business of such a philosophy it is to mark the proper ends of government. What are these? Aristotle gives us a way of looking at this. Politics, he said, is a free people deliberating the question, How ought we to order our life together? The "ought" in that definition indicates that politics is essentially a moral enterprise.
And another insight from Burke about those party political people Burke called "placemen". Russell Kirk describes this as meaning:
"...seekers after the power and the emoluments of public office, not scrupulous as to the means by which advantages for themselves may be obtained. The demagogue seeks for himself a cozy place in the political sunshine."
Does that b not describe many of the politicians in our National, Liberal and Labor parties? The implication is the classical republic one: that these politicians are corrupt. They accept bribes, pocket public funds, and sell political influence. Behind the professional mask of political humanitarianism is the politician's lust for power and place.
The placemen and women have no idea that the enterprise of politics is moral in nature. That is a tragedy because political life deals with questions such as justice, equality, fairness, and the common good. These are inescapably ethical categories.