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There are two kinds of games in life -- clean games and dirty games. It's wrong to play a clean game dirty and a folly to play a dirty game clean. National politics is a dirty game. There is nothing in politics that make it inherently dirty -- on the contrary, it is supposed to be one of the more honorable professions because it caters to a much higher need than those fulfilled by doctors, engineers and the like. But something in the way we have structured our society, or what we believe in, has made politics dirty. Office politics are a lot more cleaner, depending on where you work. You cannot play it dirty because politics is dirty. The best approach is to not play it at all, if you can. But oftentimes, players force you to take countermeasures, if only to defend yourself. Indeed, if you do nothing (and let players get ahead through politicking instead of working) you're doing everybody a disservice. So it's not a game you can stay out of for long, unless of course, you plan to always hold the same position. The next best is to play it clean. But there's little difference between playing clean and not playing at all. And you'll be no more a match against a dirty player than a good boxer is against a cheater who kicks. A good boxer would refuse to fight such a contender. But if work is boxing, the ring is the office. You can't always afford to leave that ring. And what's more, there'll be a cheater or two in every ring. So what do you do? You study the play and categorize the players. Play it clean with the clean players. Play dirty with the dirty. But above all, when categorizing, err on the side of cleanliness.