“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” is a sentence that admonishes us to let go of our vision of a utopian world when a good enough world is in sight. History has shown us that the appropriate phrase should be: “Don’t let the perfect be the root of the bad.”
Consider:
Lyndon Johnson wasn’t perfect. Arguably, his escalation of the war in Vietnam cost hundreds of thousands of lives and tore this nation apart. But Johnson also pushed through landmark civil rights and economic justice laws and policies that moved the nation more progressively forward than anything in the previous two decades. Johnson wasn’t perfect, nor was Hubert Humphrey, the next Democratic nominee. And so, a great uprising occurred (my voice among the dissenters) and the result: Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon, who escalated the war further and spread it throughout Southeast Asia, who worked hard to eviscerate the gains made by Johnson’s Great Society, who undermined the rule of law to further his own political power (sound familiar), Richard Nixon was the result of the actions taken by those of us seeking a more perfect world.
Jimmy Carter wasn’t perfect. Under his watch, Islamist extremists took control of Iran and held American diplomats for months. Wars and tension in the Middle East caused a petroleum crisis sparking out-of-control inflation that evaporated the buying power of retirement savings. But Carter was a wise and deeply principled leader, a man whose deep religious convictions stood for helping those among us less advantaged. He was not perfect; and so, nearly 7% of the electorate voted for Liberal John Anderson and untold numbers of people just sat out the election and the result: Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan, who fostered the meme that is still prevalent today that government is the enemy, that unfettered and unregulated corporate greed should rule, that the only role government should play is that of controlling women’s reproductive rights and to keep the poor in their place, who made deals with terrorist nations to provide arms to support repressive regimes in Central American, Ronald Reagan was our President because Jimmy Carter wasn’t perfect enough.
George W. Bush was our president because 97,421 people in Florida didn’t think Al Gore was perfect enough and voted for Ralph Nader instead. There are countless ways in which the Bush presidency was a disaster (the wars he fostered in the Middle East still rage today) but consider what a dramatic difference it would have made to the world’s fight against Climate Change if Al Gore had been in office. By the way, Bush won Florida by 537 votes.
Hilary Clinton wasn’t perfect — far from it: an unlikeable personality tied too closely to corporate interests. And so, millions of Americans either stayed at home or voted against their own interests and the interest of the country and elected the least competent, most narcissistic, least compassionate, most divisive president this nation has had in at least a century.
Are we about to do this again? Newsweek reports that a recent poll by Morning Consult indicates that 7% of Bernie supporters would vote for Trump instead of Biden and an additional 11% are unsure. Really!
I’ll share a secret: Biden is not perfect. Throughout the decades of his service to the country were many bad decisions, many questionable actions. (His treatment of Anita Hill in the Thomas Supreme Court nomination was reprehensible. But remember, if the first Bush wasn’t in office, Thomas would not have been nominated in the first place!)
Biden is not perfect. He does not support Medicare for all — but his opponent would do away with all government supported health care. Biden isn’t aggressive enough fighting Climate Change — but his opponent is systematically eviscerating environmental protections and doubling down on fossil fuels. Biden does not argue for an economic revolution — but his opponent has worked furiously to support widening the chasm between the entitled rich and the rest of us. Biden would not undermine the role of the press, would not suppress the right to vote, would not denigrate the sacred institutions of this country for his own personal gain. And, most importantly, unlike his opponent who is incapable of feeling empathy, Biden would lead with heart and compassion.
Biden is not perfect. But the alternative will likely damage this country irreparably. Bernie supporters: we need you! Don’t let the perfect be the root of the bad.
Peter Rosnick is a resident of Conway.