Fight for Democracy, Part 20: What is the alternative?

There’s only one real question that needs to be answered in politics: What’s the alternative? You see, it’s easy to find problems. Easy to tear down people and ideas. Nothing is perfect and everything has downsides. But that’s not the point. You can’t get anywhere if you demand perfection, from policy or politicians. We always make choices between imperfect possibilities, and what matters is choosing the best alternatives among realistic options.

A lot of Democratic voters still talk about how much they didn’t like Hillary Clinton, but it’s clear to any but the most confused minds she would have been a much better choice than our current President. Liberals love to hate on Joe Manchin, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, but as awful as he is (and he is awful), if you take a look at his opponent you will see why Manchin is a must-win for the good guys. I bet for most people they look at the Democrat running on their ballot and wish they were better. You might even be able to name a better alternate sitting in the wings. But the real alternative in the election is the opponent on the ballot with them, because they will win if you don’t vote and support the Democrat.

And sure, the Democratic Party itself sucks, but it’s better than the Republican Party. The Affordable Care Act made it hard for some people to afford insurance, but it expanded insurance to twenty million people and made it cheaper for most.  Yes, the minimum wage might cut into the number of jobs available, but without it there would be millions more working in poverty. Of course shutting down the Senate to stop a supreme court nomination might prevent a lot of laws from getting passed, but it would save the highest court in the land from being corrupted by an unethical process and illegitimate nomination. You need to stop stalling out on the negative, or idly sitting by until something/someone perfect comes along in order to make an effort.

If the Democrats don’t take back the House (and/or the Senate), the current administration will continue to break down the rule of law, degrade the norms that bind our democracy together, and use their power to seal themselves off from the will of the people. Life will only get harder.

Right now our alternatives are to keep the status quo or to replace Republicans with Democrats. The choice is stark and simple.