The Enemy of the Good

 

WHAT'S NEXT?

 

As a Bernie supporter in the primary, I share the concern many progressives are expressing about Biden's Cabinet picks so far. Where are the progressives among those picks?

 

However, my friend Carl Davidson made an important point when he said, "The rightwing populist bloc, with its fascist core, is still strong and active. That's something for our left to keep in mind. We can clearly make our differences with Team Biden known, and press for changes. But he is still not the only major player on the terrain, and it would be unwise to aim all our fire at him when the right is doing the same."

 

You can turn to any TV sub-channel right here in Pittsburgh and find any number of full-time Right-Wing stations already attacking Biden non-stop. We should be careful not to thoughtlessly join that chorus. 

 

I'm reminded of the defeat of Richard Nixon's proposal for a guaranteed annual income for all Americans back in the early 1970s. (True, amazingly!) Of course, the reactionaries attacked the idea..... but so did the Left! The Left attacked it because the proposed guaranteed income was deemed too low. "It's not enough!" the Left cried. "Defeat the plan!"

 

And, with both the Left and the Right ganging up on the idea, it was indeed defeated.

Which is why Americans don't have a guaranteed annual income today. 

 

We Progressives must think carefully before we uncritically attack. Sometimes the best is the enemy of the good, when good is all we can get.