“Perfect is the enemy of good.”
I had to rack my bird brain for where I’d heard that before. I know it wasn’t from my eagle-eyed copyediting professors back in the day. My one philosophy class?
Oh yeah. It was Voltaire. Other philosophers have expanded on the concept, saying absolute perfection is pretty much impossible, so don’t go to extremes.
Here on the Central Coast, our local Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) uttered that phrase during an ag roundtable on Dec. 2 in San Luis Obispo. He said some other interesting philosophical things while highlighting changes he’s proposed to the national guest-worker program, aka H-2A.
He said that the bipartisan bill he co-authored tries to find a middle ground, creating an earned legal status for the existing ag workforce and updating other aspects of the existing H-2A program. Farmers locally can’t get enough workers because there are too many hoops to jump through. This new bill could dedicate up to 40,000 green cards, allowing workers to obtain legal working status. It would also allow them to apply for permanent residence, aka Lawful Permanent Resident status.
“Democrats usually pursue the ultimate, which is citizenship,” Carbajal said. “Republicans are always reluctant to go there.”
So, voila, a middle ground. “Is it a perfect bill? No. Is it a good bill? Yes,” Carbajal said.
Or as Voltaire might have uttered, middle ground is the friend of maybe some actual work getting accomplished.
We’ll see if this works out—the bill still has to be heard on the House floor. Next year is an election year, so get your partisan ponchos out—I anticipate posturing and mudslinging ahead.
Speaking of the election, Carbajal’s stated opponent—if not outright enemy of “not good enough”—Andy Caldwell basically said that the incumbent congressman is causing fellow Democrats to stumble. “The curse of the Salud endorsement…” reads the title of a Dec. 3 press release from Caldwell’s office, sent not long after short-time presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris dropped out of the race. (Not to preen my own feathers here, but I did wonder just last week whether such an endorsement would be good for anything, “For the birds,” Nov. 28.)
But Caldwell’s office took things a step further, saying that “a month earlier Beto O’Rourke dropped out of the Democratic primary, just months after Salud endorsed him for president. That’s two for two. You have to ask, who’s next?”
Do we, Andy? Do we?
As Caldwell’s office says, Carbajal endorsed candidates that “don’t even have support of his own party.” OK, that does look weird, but let’s get back to the real issues.
Andy is definitely the stated enemy of all things that smack of socialism, and therefore he’s been speaking out against Carbajal’s support of the Green New Deal and Medicare for all.
Caldwell’s office quoted former Carpinteria City Councilman Joe Armendariz (and brief Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors 4th District candidate): “Salud Carbajal is doing his best, but his best just isn’t good enough.”
Hmmm, interestingly enough, the literal translation of Voltaire’s quote is, “The best is the enemy of the good.”
The best or the good? I think we voters will get to eventually decide. I can’t wait to see you at the polls.
The canary is the enemy of bad. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 5-12, 2019.
