How Important Is It To Be Right

 “You have to decide how important it is to be right.”

This is a famous quote from a famous daughter-in-law. It was her observation after a family gathering many years ago, and through all the years since, I have not forgotten it. Her discernment that day has proved remarkably enduring and feels especially applicable now.

I wouldn’t have dreamed that today, October 5, 2026, the importance of being right would become one of the central struggles of our American political life.

One name alone, Donald Trump has become enough to divide families, friendships, communities, and the country itself. Whatever one thinks of the man, there have been successes during his presidency worthy of acknowledgment. Yet for many Americans, giving Trump credit for anything has become impossible. You have heard the line: Trump could cure cancer and still be wrong.

That is where the question about being right becomes so important.

Opposition to Trump has become so consuming that some voters seem willing to support candidates and political ideas they once would have rejected outright, including democratic socialism and philosophies moving far beyond the traditional American political mainstream, rather than concede that Trump might have been right about anything.

Think about what that means. The determination to defeat the man can become more important than considering what the alternative may mean for the country.

I think of Norman Rockwell’s magazine covers that illustrated an American way of life: the policeman sitting at the soda counter beside a young boy, children in a classroom with their hands over their hearts saying the Pledge of Allegiance, the beautiful portraits he created of our presidents. Rockwell captured an America that, despite all its disagreements and imperfections, still recognized something larger than politics that belonged to all of us.

The midterm elections are now one place where this question must be answered. How important is it to be right? Important enough to sacrifice what we believe is best for the country?

Hate Trump if you must. Oppose him. Criticize him. Vote against him when his name is on the ballot.

But love this magnificent country more. Don’t vote it away.

A Follow-Up on Two Reader Comments

Two comments left below this post deserve answers. Both asked, in different ways, what I meant and what accomplishments I believed were worthy of acknowledgment.

Rather than leave my replies only in the comment section, I am adding them here because the questions go directly to the point I was trying to make in How Important Is It to Be Right?

Reader Comment #1:
“No judgement but can I ask for 5 things that this Administration has done for America in the past 2 years. I will start….1) curbing illegals coming across the border”

My reply:
A fair question. You have started the list with:

1. Curbing illegal crossings at the southern border.

I would add:

2. Providing new federal tax deductions for qualified tips and overtime pay.
3. Pressing NATO allies to shoulder a larger share of their own defense, culminating in the 2025 agreement to work toward 5% of GDP in defense and security spending by 2035.
4. Expanding American energy production and opening additional opportunities for domestic oil and gas development.
5. Helping move the United States to record levels of liquefied natural gas exports, strengthening its position as a major energy supplier.

People can certainly debate the policies and their consequences, but I think these are five legitimate subjects to put on the table when asking what this administration has done. And that, really, was part of the point of my blog: can we look at an action or a result on its own merits, even when we strongly dislike the person responsible for it?

Reader Comment #2:
“Please, please tell me, enumerate the successes during the Trump presidency worthy of acknowledgment. And what exactly do you mean when you advise us to ‘don’t vote it away’? I’m curious.”

My reply:
I’m glad you asked.

When I wrote “don’t vote it away,” I meant our American way of life—the country and the principles, freedoms, traditions, and institutions that have shaped it. That is why I referred to Norman Rockwell in the piece. His paintings represented an America in which, despite our differences, there was still a shared sense that we belonged to something larger than ourselves.

As for accomplishments worthy of acknowledgment, I would point to several beyond those already mentioned in another comment: the decline in violent crime and overdose deaths; efforts to bring more manufacturing and production of essential medicines back to the United States; record levels of American oil, natural gas, and LNG production and exports; and an aggressive effort to reduce federal regulation and government spending.

People can reasonably debate how much credit any president deserves for particular results, and they can certainly disagree over the policies themselves. I am not asking anyone to admire Donald Trump or agree with everything he has done.

My point is that opposition to one man should not become so consuming that we lose sight of what we are voting for as well as what we are voting against.

By “don’t vote it away,” I meant: whatever our politics, let us be very careful with the inheritance that is America.

That is what I mean by asking: How important is it to be right?

I appreciate both questions because they gave me the opportunity to clarify the larger point of the piece: political disagreement should not prevent us from examining policies and results on their own merits, nor should opposition to one person cause us to lose sight of the country itself.