Sen. Manchin's betrayal must not be the end of either Build Back Better or voting rights legislation.
Too often, we allow a few lost battles to move us into disengagement from the struggle, the body politics. That s the game that those in power play. We win by not coalescing to our standard behavior.
Joe Manchin procrastinated long enough to give the impression to the gullible that he was negotiating in good faith. One cannot be negotiating in good faith if the negotiation premise is false. Manchin is concerned about inflation by throwing another two trillion into the economy. Of course, most economists disagree,
Manchin claims he is also concerned about the debt. The thing is, economists like Stephanie Kelton have been proven correct not by theory but by reality in an economy where the fallacies about debt vs. inflation were disproven. Suffice it to say that policies in a country with a sovereign currency with no real shortages cannot create runaway inflation.
Machin disparaged his constituents, claiming they will go hunting or buy drugs if Build Back Better gives families a few dollars, child care, healthcare, and family leave. Whereas these types of attacks were stereotypically racists, interestingly, Manchin’s insult was tailored to West Virginia orthodoxy. Will Democrats encourage groups to use this sad commentary in ads?
Maybe Manchin should listen to the following piece where Zakaria explores the benefits of a robust social safety net.
Joe Manchin is a fraud. Sinema, Manchin, and a few other conservative Democrats are the obstructionists the plutocracy has in the Democratic Party to maintain the status quo.
All the bills passed by Democrats ultimately benefitted our oligarchy. They used the stimulus to reinflate the economy under the false premise of helping everyday people. The fact is that they needed them as the raw material to restart the economy.
As soon as the economy was firing on all cylinders, they made sure that they would cut any possibility that Americans would get a robust social safety net like most humane countries worldwide. They want to ensure that Americans would have to work for whatever the oligarchs are willing to pay. Why? Without policies like Build Back Better, government, we-the-people, a large portion of our workforce must endure the antiseptic slavery of the unfettered capitalists. The only other option is starvation without healthcare as a government made impotent by the plutocrats has no viable social safety net.
Anand Girad channeled a phrase the President is fond of, “Don’t tell me your values. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you your values.” Most importantly, he puts into words a reality about those who make our laws.
But it’s not just our inept social safety net that keeps our citizens at different levels of peril, known and unknown. Our democracy is at risk. Yet our derelict Senate chose to go home for the Holidays without protecting it.
Joe Madison, The Black Eagle, renown SiriusXM Host has been on a hunger strike for over 40 days. He remains engaged as he attempts to will senators to pass a voting rights bill. I caught up with him by Zoom as he was at the Dallas airport to speak at a scholarship fund dinner.
The immediate battle is lost. I am sure that we-the-people will win the war if we stay engaged. We don’t all have to go on a hunger strike like our good friend Joe Madison. But we must educate ourselves to vote what is best in our interest.
Manchin’s betrayal must not demoralize us. It must increase our resolve to elect more progressives. As Manchin once said, elect more progressives if you want more progressive policies. That must be our goal in 2022 and further. We must make Manchin irrelevant. It is deplorable that while most Americans want progressive policies, our politicians’ deliberate disempowerment continues to fail us.
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