Politics at Work

Sometimes I wonder if it is possible to live life with no politics involved in it. From my own perceptions and observations, apparently, there is no way to exclude politics in your life - starts from family, friends and work. Today, I am more interested in discussing about politics at work. I believe that politics at work is divided into "good" and "bad" politics. "Back-stabbing" is considered as one of the "bad" politics at work. How about kissing-ass? If you are working in a company where the boss is an educated and wise person, of course kissing-ass thing won't work. Everything will be judged based on the performance. What if vice-versa? Then, those people who are good in kissing-ass will get attention and promotion faster. What happened to those quiet type who just did the job based on the job descriptions? I believe that no promotion will come to her/him in 10 years time. Is this fair? Well, nothing is fair in this life. So, what is the conclusion to get promoted faster. Learn how to kiss-ass? Are you one of the kiss-ass person? Is this kissing-ass things really work? (Though I noticed that it is working in my working place.)