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There are days, indeed many days, when I get tired of the constant partisanship at all levels of government. The constant game of Gotcha is both draining and destructive.

Then I read a quote like this, and I realize why it's important to keep fighting:

"Every major milestone in American history has been won after a major protracted and partisan battle. Go back to the Emancipation Proclamation, the 19th Amendment, the New Deal, Medicare, Social Security, the Voting Rights Act. These were big partisan battles -- one of them involved a civil war. And so the idea that somehow we can all come to the middle and do what? Free half the slaves? Or free them from 12 to five? These are major issues that people have very definite differences on."

That's Arianna Huffington on ABC's "This Week" show, arguing with ABC'sTerry Moran, who shot back at her that "the country is in the great muddled middle. All polls show on most issues, they would like some compromise." Catch Arianna's rejoinder:

"That's not true at all," Arianna responded. "Even the despised public option has 70 percent behind it. Nate Silver crunched the numbers: the jobs bill -- the $100 billion jobs bill, not the $15 billion jobs bill in the Senate -- has 70 percent of the people behind it. The idea that we are in a mushy middle is simply a media invention."

Listen -- I am completely worn out with the cheap shots, the cheap tricks, and the inability of most government entities to make a difference for their people. But giving up your principles and passing some mealy-mouthed pile of dog doo is not the answer.

Teddy Kennedy was a liberal -- you knew that, right? -- but he was able to get things moved through the Senate without giving up on his ultimate goals and vision. Somehow, we have to find a way to make things better without just throwing out anything hard or controversial.

It's time for a government that realizes there are things worth fighting for. And it's time for Democrats to realize the same thing. As Jim Hightower once famously said, "The only thing in the middle of the road is yellow stripes and dead armadillos."

Let's stop scrambling to the middle, and start standing up for the progressive agenda we say we believe in.