The Last Best Minute (Going Public Assignment)

I've finally completed my going public assignment. I wrote Erin a letter! Not personally of course, but in her official capacity as Editor in Chief of the Exponent. Eventually it will go up on the Exponent website and I'll post a link to it when that happens.

I particularly wanted to do some public writing for this assignment because I felt like part of the goal was to get a little out of your comfort zone and public speech is pretty well in mine. I did high school Speech and Debate, I do Model United Nations in college and I'm just generally the sort of outspoken person for whom giving a speech isn't all that special.

Writing my letter to the editor was not like that. Maybe it's because I have, I'm fairly certain, the minority political view in this state, but writing to my peers was daunting! I had a really tough time trying to come up with a tone that expressed my opinion without being too... nice, harsh, combative, apologetic, inclusive, or exclusive. There is something very personal about declaring your opinions to the world in such a public way.

Until I've got a real link to share, here is the letter:


Letter to the Editor: Don't Make Perfect the Enemy of Good

As a millennial and a feminist I support Hillary Clinton for president and Democratic nominee, enthusiastically. I understand many students on this campus do not feel the same. What I do not understand is the way in which we have gone about our disagreements. The amount of name calling and misinformation I have seen circulating has vastly outweighed the genuine respectful political disagreement. We have lived up the the worst parts of our millennial reputation, we are cyber-bullying our candidates and each other and we can do better.

If you genuinely believe that every issue on which you agree with Hillary is just a lie told to get elected and none of them will ever see the light of day, I don’t know what to say to you. I do not agree. It’s not a realistic depiction of how politics works (even with the acknowledgement of some corruption) and I don’t believe it's a realistic depiction of how people work.

If you disagree with her platform on fracking, or gun rights, or any other of a myriad of issues on which I myself do not completely agree with her, I respect that. However, even with some small (or great) disagreements on specific issues, Hillary is still a good candidate. She has experience working with a tumultuous international political sphere, she has the respect of her fellow senators and the foundations to compromise well with those across the aisle, and she has realistic and well-founded policy plans to help achieve positive change using that compromise. Clinton may not be your perfect candidate this election season, but it’s time to stop making “perfect” the enemy of “good”.

Finally, let’s all take a moment to remember that despite how we may feel about their policy platforms not one of the candidates running for nomination is literally Hitler, or even close. They may, in fact, just have genuine disagreements with each other about what exactly is the best way to lead a country bigger than Europe.

Sarah Rawlins