How to Think About Politics Without Wanting to Kill Yourself

Hamilton Nolan, journalist on American labour and inequality, provides a mental model for why you should still vote for politicians who support ideas which are wrong or harmful:

With few exceptions, it is more accurate to divide most politicians into two broad categories: Enemies, and Cowards. The enemies are those politicians who are legitimately opposed to your policy goals. The cowards are those politicians who may agree with your policy goals, but will sell you out if they must in order to protect their own interests.

[The] true work of political action is ... to create the conditions in the world that make it safe for the cowards to vote the right way.

I just wonder if there is a less combative term than 'enemy'? Maybe 'opponent'? And the title put me off reading this otherwise excellent article initially.

(via Ed Yong)