Biden might not be perfect, but he’s still our only hope

No staying home, no third-party candidates. Frankly, I am not sure our democracy will survive four more years of Mr. Trump.

I read with interest and enthusiasm Anjali DasSarma’s excellent essay “Settling for Biden” in this week’s Baltimore Sun (“‘Settling for Biden’: the moral dilemma of a Biden presidency,” July 13). I agree with much of what she said, but I don’t think Joe Biden is “evil” if that category also includes Donald Trump. Among evil people, Mr. Trump is in a class by himself.

At 73, I am a charter member of the baby boom generation. Ms. DasSarma is right. My generation made horrible mistakes in every facet of national policy. However, many of us share her ideals and values. In fact, we have a lot in common. In our 20s, we wanted to change the world too, and we thought we could. We opposed the Vietnam War, and we fought for civil rights and women’s rights. We didn’t accomplish what we had hoped, but I think we moved the needle.

Joe Biden was not our first choice as a presidential candidate either. I personally would have preferred Elizabeth Warren. Our electoral process is frustrating, but the history of presidential elections over the past 50 years offers some useful perspective.

In 1968, my first presidential election, I supported then Sen. Eugene McCarthy. My generation felt the same way about McCarthy that younger voters felt about Bernie Sanders in 2016. I thought McCarthy was the best choice because he opposed the war in Vietnam. I would also have supported Bobby Kennedy. Unfortunately, Kennedy was assassinated two months after Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis.

In a chaotic, riot filled convention, Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey to oppose Richard Nixon. The parallels between 1968 and 2016 are striking. Even the election maps look similar. Nixon beat Humphrey by 110 Electoral College votes but only 511,944 popular votes. In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 77 electoral votes, but he lost the popular vote by almost 4 million votes. In 1972, I supported George McGovern, who lost to Nixon in a landslide. McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. We were rescued from that appalling result by some inept burglars and a Congress that was then still functioning.

I believe that Ms. Clinton in 2016, like Humphrey in 1968, would have won if disaffected liberal Democrats had voted for “the lesser of two evils.” Some of those voters stayed home. Others threw their votes away on third party candidates who were not going to win. Still others voted for Donald Trump in a fit of pique because their preferred candidate wasn’t nominated.

Granted, our system of elections cries out for reform, beginning with the Electoral College, which should be abolished because it gives too much power to small states where fewer people live. That said, on Nov. 3, voters will have exactly two viable choices: Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Voters who don’t want another four years of Mr. Trump should vote for Mr. Biden. No staying home, no third-party candidates. Frankly I am not sure our democracy will survive four more years of Mr. Trump.

Young people, please do whatever you can to defeat Mr. Trump and his enablers. Persuade your doubtful friends to show up and vote for Mr. Biden. As a country, we desperately need your energy, ideals and values. You have already provided outstanding leadership on climate change, gun control, racial inequality, women’s rights and health care. If Mr. Trump is reelected, there will be no progress on any of those issues. Instead, he will make everything worse. If we want to move forward, we must defeat him in November.

Ms. DasSarma is right. Mr. Biden is not the perfect candidate, but he’s the only one we have at the moment who can defeat Mr. Trump. While he has made significant mistakes in the past, he has learned from them. I think he will choose an excellent vice president from a number of highly qualified women of color. Given Mr. Biden’s age, that woman is likely to be the Democratic candidate in 2024.

So please, young people, join hands with us and lead us into a better future for everyone. We’re right there with you, and we will do whatever we can to help your generation of leaders. You have already earned our respect and our gratitude. We are happy to pass the torch.

Linda Cades, Kennedyville