"Politics" is basically the art of resolving differences between people.
It happens all the time, sometimes for strong reasons (genuine
differences of priorities), sometimes not (simple personal grudges).
It's a fact of life among humans.
<p>
No, not all politics are evil; indeed, in a healthy and functioning
group (which I think we are), evil politics tend to be fairly uncommon.
Evil politics usually arise when a few things happen:
<p>
<ul>
  <li> Sides in a disagreement become overly entrenched in their positions,
and unwilling to compromise or agree to disagree;

  <p><li> They stop communicating with each other;

  <p><li> They stop listening to each other's priorities, and ascribe incorrect
motives to each other;

  <p><li> They begin to factionalize, drawing a sharp line between "us" and
"them".
</ul>
<p>
That's roughly the order that these things tend to take. It's why I
consider Great Council an important part of the health of Carolingia --
while it doesn't necessarily let everyone do what they want to do, it
*does* provide a common forum for communication, which tends to help.
It's also why I regard the heavy overlap between the many dozens of
interest groups in the Barony as vital: it makes it much more difficult
for things to break down into simple factions. So long as folks know
each other, and continue to talk reasonably, it's far less likely that
the atmosphere will get truly poisonous.
