All that you said...but not only that, the failure to engage in exactly the same kind of smear tactics is an automatic disadvantage and gains no points in an electorate that couldn’t give the slightest crap about integrity or other forms of truth telling.
The problem is that it goes against our character to engage in those tactics. We may have to do it, but it doesn’t come naturally to us, as it does the other side. We want to win on ideas and reason and logic and character and integrity. The trouble is, the ‘Rats don’t, they just want to win, any way possible. So we’re starting at a disadvantage in that we don’t naturally play dirty. But there comes a time when you just have to give it back to the bully and tormentor in equal or greater measure, because in politics you have to win office to effect your ideas. Howling in the wilderness generally doesn’t effect change.