Perfect is the Enemy of Good

Dans ses écrits, un sàge Italien
Dit que le mieux est l'ennemi du bien
-From Voltaire's poem La Bégueule

There is no real race for the Republican nomination for President- there are only two candidates who have a chance to defeat President Barack Obama, the Democrat nominee, and those two candidates are Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. They may not be the best choices- there may very well be a better candidate out there- but either would make a better President than Obama, and the only way to defeat Obama is to choose one of these two nominees.

There is also no real race for the Republican nomination for Senate here in Michigan- our only chance is by choosing Pete Hoekstra to be our nominee, and we should choose him, not because he would make a better Senator than Durant or Konetchy, but because Hoekstra is better than Stabenow, who will likely be elected if he isn't the nominee.

Oh, I know what my Tea Party readers are saying right now- they think I am a traitor to the cause, they feel that I am not being pure enough to the principles of the party, and they think that now is the time to nominate a Michelle Bachman or Peter Konetchy, who they have deemed as the pure and ideal candidate, mostly because these sorts of candidates haven't been in politics long (or at all) and have never been in any sort of leadership positions. These sort of idealists are the sort that nominate unelectable 'pure' candidates over solid conservative candidates, and then when their candidate is defeated by a progressive socialist they pat themselves on the back for staying true to themselves- meanwhile in the real world, the real effect of their actions was to help elect a progressive over a conservative.

Those people out there who argue that Romney or Perry or Hoekstra aren't sufficiently 'conservative' or 'tea party' enough for them can afford to be true to their morals, but I can't- I have children who need a future for our nation, so all I can afford to be is a true patriot who through my actions and votes helps replace progressive liberals with anything better. If a moderate knocks out a liberal, that's an improvement; likewise, a Romney or Perry is an improvement over an Obama, and a Hoekstra is an improvement over a Stabenow.

Many though argue that it isn't really like this- that now is the time that 'true' conservatives can defeat Stabenow and Obama, and that if we don't go big we'll miss our chance. This is a severe misreading of the last several elections, which showed (notably in Delaware and Colorado) that although conservative ideas and tea party ideals are popular, they center in American politics lies closer to where it has always lain, which is slightly right, and in politics, the closer a candidate is to the sweet spot, the more likely they are to be elected. As far left as Obama or Stabenow is, there biggest hope is that tea party and conservative activists like many of you help nominate someone who is farther to the right than what the American people want and by doing so help them win re-election.

The 'Golden Mean' of American politics, the Middle Way, the Doctrine of the Mean, all suggest that Tea Party activists and conservatives should be very careful with who they support and who they campaign for. Although some candidates may appeal to your more extreme views, the reality is that with a little bit of moderation, you can help elect a good candidate, even if they aren't a perfect candidate.