Well put. A lot of politics these days consists of being shitty and then saying it’s okay because the other side was shitty in an equivalent way, while nevertheless reserving the right to call out the same behavior as bad the next time the other side does it. People can wax tough about realpolitik all they want, but I’m not playing the game if it’s two different bad guys opposing each other. One side has to do things the right way, even if it might be more useful or convenient to do things the wrong way to score a point or make a gain.

And I’m with you, ultimately, the right way is treating people as individuals, both for plaudits and accountability, and never expecting, insisting, or requiring everyone to “represent” whatever group someone else thinks they belong to.