We Have a Choice

Onion photoshopped image

"The lesser of two evils is still evil". I heard this many times during the 2016 presidential election. The thing to remember is that that expression is a figure of speech; one or both sides is not necessarily evil. It's a way of making the point that there are problems with both choices, that each option is less than perfect. People say it, though, as if it's a unique situation. Every election is a choice between two (or more) imperfect candidates. 2020 is no exception.

Let's dispense with the illusion that candidates from parties other than the main two have any chance of getting any electoral votes, let alone winning. Voting for a third party, independent or write-in candidate might salve your conscience, but, other than in local elections, in will have no impact on a national election. Like it or not, it's a binary choice.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is one of those choices. Much has been made of his liabilities. He is "gaffe" prone it is said. He makes factual errors in his speeches, he stumbles over words. There are red flags in his past. The way he allowed Anita Hill to be treated, his support of the crime bill in the nineties, his "handsy" style of personal interaction. Recently a flip remark seemed to suggest that he was taking Black Americans for granted.

All of these things (other than the last) were known during the primaries, yet a majority of Democratic voters chose him over his rivals for the nomination. Evidently quite a few people thought that Joe Biden, despite his apparent weaknesses, was the best person to defeat Trump and lead the United States. And now he is the only person who can defeat Trump, he is the only choice.

Joe Biden has decades of experience as both a Senator and as Vice President. And that's what we need right now. We need someone who understands international trade, who understands diplomacy, who understands the value of our military alliances, who understands that government positions should be filled by people who have competence in their area of responsibility, and are not merely personally loyal to the president or intent on destroying their departments. We need someone who understands that government is not the enemy, that civil servants who have toiled anonymously for decades are not the enemy, that the opposition party and the news media are not the enemy.

That someone is Joe Biden.