The saying, “Politics is a dirty game” is not an epicurean position. It is an admonition to well meaning people so they understand that they will encounter people whose values and ideas might not align with theirs. It does not mean that politics is for dirty people.
The same way ‘good people’ do not necessarily make good managers, politics requires a unique set of skills and attributes. We need a plethora of ideas— arguments and counter arguments. The more the amount of progressive ideas we have in the pool, the better it is for humanity.