Podkayne: "Politics!" I said bitterly. "I could run it better myself."

Uncle Tom: "I'm sure you could" he agreed gravely, "but, flicka, you don't understand."

Podkayne: "I understand all to well."

Uncle Tom: No, honey bun. You understand there is no good reason why you should not walk straight through that doorand enjoy yourself shopping until it is time to go aboard the Tricorn. And you are right about that, for there is no need for at all for you to be locked uo in here when you could be out there making some freeport shopkeeper happy paying him a high price which seems to you a low price. So you say 'Politics!' as if it were a nasty word --- and you think that settles it." He sighed. "But you don't understand. Politics is not evil; politics is the human race's most magnificent achievement. When politics is good it's wonderful...and when politics is bad --- well, it's still pretty good."

Podkayne: "I guess I don't understand," I said slowly

Uncle Tom: "Think about it. Politics is just the name for how we get things done...without fighting. We dicker and compromise and everyone thinks he has received a raw deal, but somehow after a tedious amount of talk we come up with some jury-rigged way to do it without getting anybody's head bashed in. That's Politics. The only other way to settle a dispute is by bashing a few heads in... and thats what happens when one side or both sides is no longer willing to dicker. That's why politics is good even when it's bad... because the only other alternative is force --- and somebody gets hurt."