As of October 1, 2021, the population of the United States was 333,421,330.
Joe Manchin, is attempting to dismantle President Biden’s proposal to spend $3.5 trillion for things like education, housing and child care that actually HELP ordinary Americans. He is the Senator from the state of West Virginia which has only 1.8 million resid…
As of October 1, 2021, the population of the United States was 333,421,330.
Joe Manchin, is attempting to dismantle President Biden’s proposal to spend $3.5 trillion for things like education, housing and child care that actually HELP ordinary Americans. He is the Senator from the state of West Virginia which has only 1.8 million residents. Kyrsten Sinema, who also opposes the plan, is from Arizona with a total population of 7.3 million.
Together, these two represent only 2.7 percent of Americans, and yet they are going to stop legislation that would change the lives of countless millions of men, woman and children in our country for the better.
On Thursday Manchin sneered that if liberals want to pass more bills, they should “elect more liberals.”
Here’s an idea: Have two Democrats —one in West Virginia and one in Arizona— each launch a campaign for the United States Senate next week to replace Manchin and Sinema when their terms expire in 2025. They can start the race now!
Let the candidates tell the people of their states why they are running: so ordinary folk can have some of the same benefits their counterparts in Europe
have enjoyed for decades.
These are some of the things your Senators don’t think you should have, the candidates can declare:
Universal pre-kindergarten education for 3- and 4-year-olds,
affordable child care for working families,
tuition-free community college,
an expansion of Pell Grants for higher eduction so students
will not be burdened by massive student debt.
Hundreds of billions to build affordable housing and establish
community land trusts
$107 billion to address the climate crisis, including forest fires,
the effects of droughts and the need to reduce carbon emissions
$198 billion to develop clean energy and create millions of jobs
in the process
If candidates like this for the U.S. Senate were to emerge right now when Manchin and Sinema are trying to sink the Biden agenda, it would be a news sensation. Every TV network, newspaper and internet venue would run the story. The two would become instant household names. Campaign funds would pour in from all over the country.
And the two Senate challengers have only to repeat over and over
and over what President wants to do for the people of America with his two infrastructure plans that will cost a total of $5.5 trillion over 10 years.
(They can compare this amount to the $14 trillion the Pentagon has spent since 9/11, according to National Public Radio. In a September 13 story, NPR also reported that Brown University Cost of War study revealed that some $7 trillion of that money went to for-profit defense contractors.)
The two Senate challengers can investigate and report exactly what special interests have financed the campaigns of Manchin and Sinema. They
can focus particularly on the largesse to the two Senators from the fossil fuel industry which certainly does not want hundreds of billions spent to fight climate change and develop clean energy.
According to recent polls, the $3.5 trillion-dollar package is extremely popular among voters in West Virginia and Arizona when the benefits are explained fully, along with the President’s plan on how to finance them.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that “a poll of 600 registered West Virginia voters found 48% support Biden’s plan. After polled voters were given the option of raising taxes on the richest Americans and corporations, while closing the loopholes that have caused significant wealth disparities, support for the plan rose as high as 70%.”
Who is ready to stand up and do battle against the tyranny of this ridiculously tiny minority of the nation?
And let’s stop calling Manchin and Cinema “moderates” for heaven’s sake. Congress members with records like theirs are certainly at least “conservative” and might even be termed “right-wing” at a time when life on earth is being destroyed and threatened every moment by the climate emergency we humans and especially our children and grandchildren are facing.
While you're correct that Manchin and Sinema are gumming up the works, this is how negotiations work. Totally normal--and the WH didn't put forward their final offer. Let's zoom out like Heather did and look at the biggest picture: Rs are undermining democracy; Ds are actively hashing out leg that will allow people to have living wages, care for their kids and parents, eyeglasses so grandparents can see, etc. If we contribute to the breathless chicken little atmosphere when this is just politics getting done, we're not telling the right story either. Breathe. Let this play out. There's no real deadline for anything but defaulting on the debt, which the Rs are actively voting for. We need to change this narrative for ourselves as well.
To the “There’s no real deadline” part, espoused yesterday by Biden, it might be instructive to consider a couple of points.
While the infrastructure legislation doesn’t get done, the Voting Rights legislation does not get done either. The 2022 elections are little more than a year away. If we assume that the Infrastructure bill dominates most of this sitting, then the Voting Rights Bill will probably not face its Herculean challenge in the Senate until it is too late to have a positive effect on the next election cycle. At that point we will likely see the first real fruits of Donald Trump’s insidious lie, which now dominates the political scene.
November 2022 will bring a hurricane of negative effects on the Democrats, who will lose the House and the Senate. If the voting restrictions aren’t sufficient to topple enough seats towards the Republicans, then the states which have passed laws to turn control of elections over to the legislature will surely do so. We will have witnessed the first political act of naked authoritarianism and, almost as a side effect Biden’s presidency will be effectively over, as he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.
Nsé Ufo, CEO of Stacey Abram’s New Georgia Project puts the problem pungently and succinctly. “If there isn’t a way for us to repeat what happened in November 2020, we’re f---ed.”
Derek Johnson, who is President and CEO of the NAACP is similarly clear-eyed. “We cannot out-organize voter suppression.”
We are watching the GOP, aided by Joe “Elect more liberals” Manchin and Kyrsten “I’m in the Senate” Sinema do exactly what they promised to - run out the clock. We can slash the Build Back Better bill down to 1.5 trillion - that’s a virtual certainty. That assumes that Manchin and Sinema themselves can agree on what will be slashed - it seems that Manchin is a slow walker on climate change provisions while Sinema made her chops early as a Green politician. Regardless, by simple Math, 4/7ths of what is in that legislation will disappear. At best it will limp to the finish line as the Build Back a Little Better bill.
I love that the Progressives drew a line in the sand and have stuck to it. Without this firmness of purpose, God knows where we would be today. But to whistle away the problems as, “This is just politics” is very, very hard for me to swallow.
And while we’re at the 30 000 foot level, it seems to me that the Republicans have had a narrow brush with death this year, and since then have nicely come back to the fold and enjoyed a pretty successful 2021. Which is horrible for America.
My fear continues that Mr Biden-Ms Harris could become a half-term administration if keystone legislation (societal reform, voting rights) are not passed this year and make a Republican takeover an almost certainty in 2022.
What makes you think they're acting without urgency? They're at work on this night and day! I get approximately 200 emails from Democratic party organizations, PACS and politicians daioy, seeking support for the Build Back Better Act and/or asking me to call my Representative and Speaker Pelosi to demand that the "bipartisan" infrastructure bill isn't passed first and allowd to be seen as "instead of." Even the news organizations trying to keep the level of anxiety high enough to make a profit in the post-Trump era are reporting on their late night meetings. Take heart!
Yes, the Dems are working overtime to turn this nation into a CCP vassal state. Maybe, Biden and company will create prison camps and
an economy partially based on prisoner slave labor. Back to Louisiana State Penn in the fifties. We will buy electric vehicles from the CCP that may not work. We will pay high taxes and get food insecurity.
If you complain, you will pay for thinking you are free.
I hear the clock ticking. I fear that the republicans and the two Trojan horses will stop at nothing to tank the Dem agenda. If Dems haven’t figured this out, I despair. The Everett Dirksens of the Republican Party are long gone. BTW, he was this old Democrat’s favorite pol
I voted for Biden/Harris. I've never been so ashamed. The Dems have the House, half the Senate and the White House. They don't have the people between the coasts. The Dems need to lose to save us from being used by the CCP more than we already are.
Eric, You choose to zoom past Stephanie and make one assumption after another:
1. ' If we assume that the Infrastructure bill dominates most of this sitting, then the Voting Rights Bill will probably not face its Herculean challenge in the Senate until it is too late to have a positive effect on the next election cycle.'
a) Why should '...we assume' as you wrote above that the infrastructure bills and a national voting rights bill will not be passed in time to avert the most egregious damage by Republicans to free and fair elections? You go on with '...Voting Rights
Bill will probably not face its...' why would it not face the challenge in the Senate be passed in enough time?
2. 'November 2022 will bring a hurricane of negative effects on the Democrats, who will lose the House and the Senate. If the voting restrictions aren’t sufficient to topple enough seats towards the Republicans, then the states which have passed laws to turn control of elections over to the legislature will surely do so.'
b) Zooming on, you predict the '22 election results. Clearly, you are assuming that a national voting rights bill will not been passed or passed in time. I think it premature of you to jump to calling the election results. Eric, you proclaim, 'At that point we will likely see the first real fruits of Donald Trump’s insidious lie, which now dominates the political scene.' In fact, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Nancy Pelosi and President Biden are the ones now dominating the political scene.
3. 'We will have witnessed the first political act of naked authoritarianism and, almost as a side effect Biden’s presidency will be effectively over, as he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.'
c) You don't pull any punches! Was your comment a reflection of what you think could happen or what you believe is likely to happen?
Was I reading the words of Cassandra, a futurist, a soothsayer, seer, Jeremiah or a dramatist? These were the words of a very concerned observer. As a warning, this comment is a siren, which I wish many millions of Americans could hear. Your concern is on target and, I hope our course does not mirror your words.
What do you consider voter suppression? Did the GOP get judges to change voting rules? Were there non-citizens voting illegally? Did they forget to count counties that did not vote for their candidates? No. Voters weren't given water while they waited in line. Voters had to prove they were legit. The hours did not fit their activity roster. Stacy Abrams saying the Dems were going to lose if they could not get the rules they had in 2020 should tell you how rigged the vote was.
The Dem party I was once voted for is no longer interested in keeping my country free. I know ethnic groups have had a rough and dangerous road in this country, but I would not trade down to the CCP for any reason.
Overturning something so entrenched in history in the face of absolutely obdurate opposition, deep pools of dark money, a resolutely uninformed public i.e. Fox devotees, and the pandemic of utterly malignant social media, demands concerted, radical action.
Public protests are simply lied about and turned against those who organize them.
“Million” people marches are but a blip in the news cycle.
It would take radical action - general strikes, a wave of arrests, trials and stiff punishments of all who fostered sedition, selective and disciplined boycotts. Aggressive, in your face, behavior. Good trouble - and plenty of it. Instead we have prosecutors from the DOJ asking for sentences for seditionists which flummox judges by their stunning leniency.
If it was easy for the good guys to turn away this threat, it would already have been done.
The paradox is that real action (as above) will not happen until a critical mass of citizens feel in their gut that all is about to be lost. By then it will be too late. The opposition will have tasted the sweet fruits of unchecked power and will swat away resistance.
In thinking about the civil unrest and hatred that have seemed to grow and been fueled, particularly in the last six years (always simmering in the USA) I came across an uncommon article about violence in America. See the link below:
That was a harrowing article. Post 9/11 there were no brakes on the chief actors. America’s understanding of its power and self had been shattered by the events of September 11. No vengeance would be to great for Americans to vanquish the events of 9/11. Nothing could possibly be right in the narcissistic American universe until the belly of the beast had been sated.
I don’t think Gore would have avoided the carnage of Afghanistan had he won the infamous election. The country would have screamed for it and forced the “mommy” party to lash back.
I think Iraq might never have happened. But Afghanistan was not to be spared.
9/11 was of course a vast desecration of its own. Some response was needed. However America was in the cycle of conflict that brought about 9/11.
“If it was easy for the good guys to turn away this threat, it would already have been done.”
That’s my point, the Dem establishment and most of the Dems are NOT the good guys.
We need them out as much as the R’s.
We need MAJOR change and that pretty much means we need an entire new congress. Especially members like Pelosi, Feinstein, Shumer, etc. who still think it’s the 1970’s and act as if it’s ok to continue politics from that era.
- they know how angry people are. How much we want change. The support they get when they do things like the Coronavirus relief measure. The endless polls over the many years showing how
much the public wants these changes.
- But they continue to ignore us.
So, we show them they cannot continue doing that.
Pressure on existing D’s as stated in the OP is also needed. Real pressure that they’ll lose their cushy job will force them to act and START things.
I don’t think a revolution is here yet (but will be if they don’t change direction now), but we do need the people forcing major change to be supported and vote the others out (along with the reversal of the very long lots of things like Citizens United).
From 1775 on, there has been political fighting, nasty, personal feuds, slavery that no body wanted, but tolerated for money, special interests and power hungry legislators. Yet, here we are in 2021. Perplexed and sad, but still viable as a country. All nations have problems and people they would like to eliminate. We are people, not masses. People, as you know, are not anywhere near perfect. We do produce some wonderful things though. America is one of them. Please don't think of throwing us into the trashcan of the vassal state.
I have to disagree with your comment "slavery that no body wanted". The southern leadership in 1860-61 attempted to create a nation to preserve slavery. They believed that the African people they enslaved were inferior and they were doing them a service to "take care of them". There's a lot of primary source material I could quote but just google the South Carolina articles of Secession and Alexander Stephens speeches in 1860-61. They thought they were on the moral high ground.
Well reasoned. And a good reminder for those of us who are anxious and fearful amidst the media/news need to keep profits soaring and regain share of markets.
Isn't the deadline before year's end? Heaven forbid they are still negotiating next year. They need to show pretty darn soon that Dems can govern and get stuff done that helps everyone. The R voter and Dem voters need results or the Dems will lose The House is my prediction.
Can you afford to pay the taxes to support these goodies? Entitlements don't go away. Your descendants will be paying for these entitlements with cash, violent streets, and very little money left over for luxuries like food. Check out Venezuela. Everyone is hungry. The social agenda is draining them dry. Many have left and come here. Before social programs and taxes, the people were doing just fine.
Wishful thinking. Manchin is the only Democrat who could win a statewide election in WV. When he goes, a Republican will fill his seat. And be careful how you beat him up - if he decides to switch parties, the Senate majority changes, McConnell is once again in charge, and Biden's presidency is effectively over.
Manchin is infuriating but at least sometimes seems to be trying to inject conservative ideas into Democratic legislation. He's far more useful as a Democratic obstructionist than he would be as a Republican.
This is so wrong. If we piss him off, the R’s win. If we don’t, the R’s win.
That IS Manchin’s plan. He’ll join the R’s if they win, by saying he diluted these changes (ie he was a spy). Otherwise, he says he helped create them.
So, piss him off. Nothing to lose.
Now is the ONLY time to do something. If we don’t act RIGHT NOW, the Rs win in 2022 & 2024
Instead of targeting a Democratic Senator - who at least helps to create a Democratic majority in the Senate - let's make sure to re-elect Sen.Raphael Warnock, and support progressive challengers for currently Republican seats. While I don't agree with Senator Manchin on all that much, he has it right that we need to elect more progressives.
And making sure our voices are heard and reflected in our own local communities, especially with fair redistricting, and support for our school boards.
Surely Dems have few billionaires who can outbid the republican donors and buy back Manchin and Sinema. Buying politicians seems to be our national pastime. Inane emails asking for my $5 won’t do it.
For $50B over ten years, a drop in the bucket on a $3.5T package, the Dems could offer to pay all 5,000 coal mners in West Virginia $100,000 a year for ten years on the condition that they not work in the coal sector industry for that period and the condition that Manchin would vote to eliminate the filibuster That might get Manchin’s attention. Do something similar for Sinema.
Alright, how about this - modify your proposal to $90,000/yr for ten years to the workers, and $50,000,000/yr to Manchin's son. That should impress him a little and serve the extra purpose of laying bare how the game works, and what the priorities are!
* before I posted this, I had to pull out my calculator (an anachronism, I mean my phone, of course) and check the numbers. All the zeroes were spinning in my head. I believe the top line number to pay for such a program for 10 years is actually $5 Billion, not 50! An even smaller drop in the proverbial bucket. Money well spent if it gets us to Yes from Manchin.
Good idea. You’re right about the $5B. My bad. I think there are about 50,000 coal miners in the US, so $50B could keep all of them out of the mines for ten years. Maybe throw in another $50B to buy off potential scabs after they’ve had a year or so on the job to prove they’re able and serious. All fantasy, of course, but kinda fun.
Yes, tying it to job creation would improve the idea, but the potential effect on global warming by reducing the use of coal would be the biggest plus, I think, other than the effect on Manchin’s positions on filibuster and the Build Back Better legislation.
Manchin stated one of his aims is that he will bring moderate Republicans into the fold with his actions. I say Manchin should reveal his true colors as a coal-business-funded actor who is as obstructionist as most Republicans, who therefore is a Republican.
Both Manchin and Sinema appear to be Rs in camo as both are heavily invested in fossil fuel industry. Manchin's daughter is a CEO of a major pharma company. So anythimg he supports has a dollar sign attached gor him
Manchin is an openly conservative, openly pro-fossil fuel and pro-big-business Democrat. If his activity results in the Freedom to Vote passing in time to make a difference, we will be celebrating, and it will open serious possibilities of more progressive legislation in the future. If not, doom and gloom; we don't know yet. But we do know who we're dealing with; we know he has plenty of political experience; and we know the $1.9 t American Recovery Act passed after going through Manchin's sieve.
We have also seen progressives in the House standing strong behind the original deal, not giving in to the bait-and-switch attempt of a few so-called moderates.
Sinema worries much more. She reminds me too much of Susan Collins, wanting support from liberals if not progressives while openly fund-raising from right wing business groups that want to kill key provisions of the human infrastructure bill. Sinema was the only democrat who did not co-sponsor S1, the Senate version of the For the People voting rights act.
Not only his daughter. I read a tweet recently that his son is in one of the fossil fuel industries and profiting like his daughter. So his job in office is not only for him to gain more wealth but for his children to rake us over the coals too.
Did you see the photo of him on his boat talking down to his constituents in kayaks? Quite the image.
Was, Manchin's daughter was the CEO of Mylan. Mylan is defunct, it merged with Upjohn in 2020 to form Viatris. Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch retired in 2020. But you are right, anything attached to him, his daughter and his wife has a dollar sign attached to it.
Be careful what you wish for. Manchin becoming a Republican would blow up government and destroy the Democrats' only opportunity at "unified" government in over a decade.
Sinema will no doubt be primaries. She’s in a purple state, though one where the election results can be overturned by R’s in a whim. Manchin’s seat will be R next time. The amazing thing is he’s from one of the poorest states in the union - one that takes from the fed much much more than they put in. Biden’s agenda would no doubt help most West Virginians, so just whom is he representing of the tiny proportion of Americans that live there anyway?
Why does everyone say that the next W. VA seat will be republican when 70% of West VA voters support these bills and raising taxes? Why in the world would they vote republican when the republicans also do not support the infrastructure?
Democrats seem to have trouble finding candidates who can forcefully articulate and defend their policies to average voters, and explain clearly how the benefits from investing in societal goods will flow to their communities.
Admitting DC and Puerto Rico as states would be a big help in the liberal Senator count. WV is not going to elect a liberal dem...they still think coal will come back. Many of the D's in WV have been D's for a long time...from the days of Sen Byrd and he'd probably be playing the same game as Manchin. The man has never had this much power. I certainly didn't know his name until the last 2 years and I live in MD
This is a terrrific idea! I think you should send it via email to both of these "right wing" supposed Dems as a heads up and a warning! And please, send it to Jaime Harrison at the DNC.
As of October 1, 2021, the population of the United States was 333,421,330.
Joe Manchin, is attempting to dismantle President Biden’s proposal to spend $3.5 trillion for things like education, housing and child care that actually HELP ordinary Americans. He is the Senator from the state of West Virginia which has only 1.8 million residents. Kyrsten Sinema, who also opposes the plan, is from Arizona with a total population of 7.3 million.
Together, these two represent only 2.7 percent of Americans, and yet they are going to stop legislation that would change the lives of countless millions of men, woman and children in our country for the better.
On Thursday Manchin sneered that if liberals want to pass more bills, they should “elect more liberals.”
Here’s an idea: Have two Democrats —one in West Virginia and one in Arizona— each launch a campaign for the United States Senate next week to replace Manchin and Sinema when their terms expire in 2025. They can start the race now!
Let the candidates tell the people of their states why they are running: so ordinary folk can have some of the same benefits their counterparts in Europe
have enjoyed for decades.
These are some of the things your Senators don’t think you should have, the candidates can declare:
Universal pre-kindergarten education for 3- and 4-year-olds,
affordable child care for working families,
tuition-free community college,
an expansion of Pell Grants for higher eduction so students
will not be burdened by massive student debt.
Hundreds of billions to build affordable housing and establish
community land trusts
$107 billion to address the climate crisis, including forest fires,
the effects of droughts and the need to reduce carbon emissions
$198 billion to develop clean energy and create millions of jobs
in the process
If candidates like this for the U.S. Senate were to emerge right now when Manchin and Sinema are trying to sink the Biden agenda, it would be a news sensation. Every TV network, newspaper and internet venue would run the story. The two would become instant household names. Campaign funds would pour in from all over the country.
And the two Senate challengers have only to repeat over and over
and over what President wants to do for the people of America with his two infrastructure plans that will cost a total of $5.5 trillion over 10 years.
(They can compare this amount to the $14 trillion the Pentagon has spent since 9/11, according to National Public Radio. In a September 13 story, NPR also reported that Brown University Cost of War study revealed that some $7 trillion of that money went to for-profit defense contractors.)
The two Senate challengers can investigate and report exactly what special interests have financed the campaigns of Manchin and Sinema. They
can focus particularly on the largesse to the two Senators from the fossil fuel industry which certainly does not want hundreds of billions spent to fight climate change and develop clean energy.
According to recent polls, the $3.5 trillion-dollar package is extremely popular among voters in West Virginia and Arizona when the benefits are explained fully, along with the President’s plan on how to finance them.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that “a poll of 600 registered West Virginia voters found 48% support Biden’s plan. After polled voters were given the option of raising taxes on the richest Americans and corporations, while closing the loopholes that have caused significant wealth disparities, support for the plan rose as high as 70%.”
Who is ready to stand up and do battle against the tyranny of this ridiculously tiny minority of the nation?
And let’s stop calling Manchin and Cinema “moderates” for heaven’s sake. Congress members with records like theirs are certainly at least “conservative” and might even be termed “right-wing” at a time when life on earth is being destroyed and threatened every moment by the climate emergency we humans and especially our children and grandchildren are facing.
While you're correct that Manchin and Sinema are gumming up the works, this is how negotiations work. Totally normal--and the WH didn't put forward their final offer. Let's zoom out like Heather did and look at the biggest picture: Rs are undermining democracy; Ds are actively hashing out leg that will allow people to have living wages, care for their kids and parents, eyeglasses so grandparents can see, etc. If we contribute to the breathless chicken little atmosphere when this is just politics getting done, we're not telling the right story either. Breathe. Let this play out. There's no real deadline for anything but defaulting on the debt, which the Rs are actively voting for. We need to change this narrative for ourselves as well.
Let’s zoom out farther.
To the “There’s no real deadline” part, espoused yesterday by Biden, it might be instructive to consider a couple of points.
While the infrastructure legislation doesn’t get done, the Voting Rights legislation does not get done either. The 2022 elections are little more than a year away. If we assume that the Infrastructure bill dominates most of this sitting, then the Voting Rights Bill will probably not face its Herculean challenge in the Senate until it is too late to have a positive effect on the next election cycle. At that point we will likely see the first real fruits of Donald Trump’s insidious lie, which now dominates the political scene.
November 2022 will bring a hurricane of negative effects on the Democrats, who will lose the House and the Senate. If the voting restrictions aren’t sufficient to topple enough seats towards the Republicans, then the states which have passed laws to turn control of elections over to the legislature will surely do so. We will have witnessed the first political act of naked authoritarianism and, almost as a side effect Biden’s presidency will be effectively over, as he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.
Nsé Ufo, CEO of Stacey Abram’s New Georgia Project puts the problem pungently and succinctly. “If there isn’t a way for us to repeat what happened in November 2020, we’re f---ed.”
Derek Johnson, who is President and CEO of the NAACP is similarly clear-eyed. “We cannot out-organize voter suppression.”
Vanity Fair alerted its readers that time is running out as far back as June. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/democrats-are-running-out-of-time-to-stop-the-gop-from-shredding-voting-rights?intcid=inline_amp
We are watching the GOP, aided by Joe “Elect more liberals” Manchin and Kyrsten “I’m in the Senate” Sinema do exactly what they promised to - run out the clock. We can slash the Build Back Better bill down to 1.5 trillion - that’s a virtual certainty. That assumes that Manchin and Sinema themselves can agree on what will be slashed - it seems that Manchin is a slow walker on climate change provisions while Sinema made her chops early as a Green politician. Regardless, by simple Math, 4/7ths of what is in that legislation will disappear. At best it will limp to the finish line as the Build Back a Little Better bill.
I love that the Progressives drew a line in the sand and have stuck to it. Without this firmness of purpose, God knows where we would be today. But to whistle away the problems as, “This is just politics” is very, very hard for me to swallow.
And while we’re at the 30 000 foot level, it seems to me that the Republicans have had a narrow brush with death this year, and since then have nicely come back to the fold and enjoyed a pretty successful 2021. Which is horrible for America.
My fear continues that Mr Biden-Ms Harris could become a half-term administration if keystone legislation (societal reform, voting rights) are not passed this year and make a Republican takeover an almost certainty in 2022.
Agreed. Question is why are Dems acting without any urgency?
What makes you think they're acting without urgency? They're at work on this night and day! I get approximately 200 emails from Democratic party organizations, PACS and politicians daioy, seeking support for the Build Back Better Act and/or asking me to call my Representative and Speaker Pelosi to demand that the "bipartisan" infrastructure bill isn't passed first and allowd to be seen as "instead of." Even the news organizations trying to keep the level of anxiety high enough to make a profit in the post-Trump era are reporting on their late night meetings. Take heart!
Yes, the Dems are working overtime to turn this nation into a CCP vassal state. Maybe, Biden and company will create prison camps and
an economy partially based on prisoner slave labor. Back to Louisiana State Penn in the fifties. We will buy electric vehicles from the CCP that may not work. We will pay high taxes and get food insecurity.
If you complain, you will pay for thinking you are free.
I hear the clock ticking. I fear that the republicans and the two Trojan horses will stop at nothing to tank the Dem agenda. If Dems haven’t figured this out, I despair. The Everett Dirksens of the Republican Party are long gone. BTW, he was this old Democrat’s favorite pol
I voted for Biden/Harris. I've never been so ashamed. The Dems have the House, half the Senate and the White House. They don't have the people between the coasts. The Dems need to lose to save us from being used by the CCP more than we already are.
wrong, wrong, wrong, the cult needs to go. What more proof do we need?
Eric, You choose to zoom past Stephanie and make one assumption after another:
1. ' If we assume that the Infrastructure bill dominates most of this sitting, then the Voting Rights Bill will probably not face its Herculean challenge in the Senate until it is too late to have a positive effect on the next election cycle.'
a) Why should '...we assume' as you wrote above that the infrastructure bills and a national voting rights bill will not be passed in time to avert the most egregious damage by Republicans to free and fair elections? You go on with '...Voting Rights
Bill will probably not face its...' why would it not face the challenge in the Senate be passed in enough time?
2. 'November 2022 will bring a hurricane of negative effects on the Democrats, who will lose the House and the Senate. If the voting restrictions aren’t sufficient to topple enough seats towards the Republicans, then the states which have passed laws to turn control of elections over to the legislature will surely do so.'
b) Zooming on, you predict the '22 election results. Clearly, you are assuming that a national voting rights bill will not been passed or passed in time. I think it premature of you to jump to calling the election results. Eric, you proclaim, 'At that point we will likely see the first real fruits of Donald Trump’s insidious lie, which now dominates the political scene.' In fact, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Nancy Pelosi and President Biden are the ones now dominating the political scene.
3. 'We will have witnessed the first political act of naked authoritarianism and, almost as a side effect Biden’s presidency will be effectively over, as he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.'
c) You don't pull any punches! Was your comment a reflection of what you think could happen or what you believe is likely to happen?
Was I reading the words of Cassandra, a futurist, a soothsayer, seer, Jeremiah or a dramatist? These were the words of a very concerned observer. As a warning, this comment is a siren, which I wish many millions of Americans could hear. Your concern is on target and, I hope our course does not mirror your words.
What do you consider voter suppression? Did the GOP get judges to change voting rules? Were there non-citizens voting illegally? Did they forget to count counties that did not vote for their candidates? No. Voters weren't given water while they waited in line. Voters had to prove they were legit. The hours did not fit their activity roster. Stacy Abrams saying the Dems were going to lose if they could not get the rules they had in 2020 should tell you how rigged the vote was.
What it should tell you is that there was no significant "vote rigging". How, in Heaven's name, can you conclude otherwise ?
BINGO! Everything you stated is true.
The Dem party I was once voted for is no longer interested in keeping my country free. I know ethnic groups have had a rough and dangerous road in this country, but I would not trade down to the CCP for any reason.
But why does it have to be this way? Why is this the way it works? Who says?
Think big.
We need to get rid of special interests and way too much power to those working AGAINST the will of the people.
The past 50 years shows “that this is how [it] works” not only fails, but is catastrophic!
Agreed.
But what, in practice. does this mean?
Overturning something so entrenched in history in the face of absolutely obdurate opposition, deep pools of dark money, a resolutely uninformed public i.e. Fox devotees, and the pandemic of utterly malignant social media, demands concerted, radical action.
Public protests are simply lied about and turned against those who organize them.
“Million” people marches are but a blip in the news cycle.
It would take radical action - general strikes, a wave of arrests, trials and stiff punishments of all who fostered sedition, selective and disciplined boycotts. Aggressive, in your face, behavior. Good trouble - and plenty of it. Instead we have prosecutors from the DOJ asking for sentences for seditionists which flummox judges by their stunning leniency.
If it was easy for the good guys to turn away this threat, it would already have been done.
The paradox is that real action (as above) will not happen until a critical mass of citizens feel in their gut that all is about to be lost. By then it will be too late. The opposition will have tasted the sweet fruits of unchecked power and will swat away resistance.
It takes voting for candidates that value serving others over being served. We vote every year. We cannot do it alone. It takes all of us.
In thinking about the civil unrest and hatred that have seemed to grow and been fueled, particularly in the last six years (always simmering in the USA) I came across an uncommon article about violence in America. See the link below:
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/afghanistan-war-drones/
Thank you so much for the link! Very useful info there. ❤️🙏❤️🙏
That was a harrowing article. Post 9/11 there were no brakes on the chief actors. America’s understanding of its power and self had been shattered by the events of September 11. No vengeance would be to great for Americans to vanquish the events of 9/11. Nothing could possibly be right in the narcissistic American universe until the belly of the beast had been sated.
I don’t think Gore would have avoided the carnage of Afghanistan had he won the infamous election. The country would have screamed for it and forced the “mommy” party to lash back.
I think Iraq might never have happened. But Afghanistan was not to be spared.
9/11 was of course a vast desecration of its own. Some response was needed. However America was in the cycle of conflict that brought about 9/11.
It’s terrible.
Thank you Fern. That article was deeply sobering.
“If it was easy for the good guys to turn away this threat, it would already have been done.”
That’s my point, the Dem establishment and most of the Dems are NOT the good guys.
We need them out as much as the R’s.
We need MAJOR change and that pretty much means we need an entire new congress. Especially members like Pelosi, Feinstein, Shumer, etc. who still think it’s the 1970’s and act as if it’s ok to continue politics from that era.
- they know how angry people are. How much we want change. The support they get when they do things like the Coronavirus relief measure. The endless polls over the many years showing how
much the public wants these changes.
- But they continue to ignore us.
So, we show them they cannot continue doing that.
Pressure on existing D’s as stated in the OP is also needed. Real pressure that they’ll lose their cushy job will force them to act and START things.
I don’t think a revolution is here yet (but will be if they don’t change direction now), but we do need the people forcing major change to be supported and vote the others out (along with the reversal of the very long lots of things like Citizens United).
From 1775 on, there has been political fighting, nasty, personal feuds, slavery that no body wanted, but tolerated for money, special interests and power hungry legislators. Yet, here we are in 2021. Perplexed and sad, but still viable as a country. All nations have problems and people they would like to eliminate. We are people, not masses. People, as you know, are not anywhere near perfect. We do produce some wonderful things though. America is one of them. Please don't think of throwing us into the trashcan of the vassal state.
I have to disagree with your comment "slavery that no body wanted". The southern leadership in 1860-61 attempted to create a nation to preserve slavery. They believed that the African people they enslaved were inferior and they were doing them a service to "take care of them". There's a lot of primary source material I could quote but just google the South Carolina articles of Secession and Alexander Stephens speeches in 1860-61. They thought they were on the moral high ground.
Well reasoned. And a good reminder for those of us who are anxious and fearful amidst the media/news need to keep profits soaring and regain share of markets.
Nicely corralled, Stephanie. Thank you
Isn't the deadline before year's end? Heaven forbid they are still negotiating next year. They need to show pretty darn soon that Dems can govern and get stuff done that helps everyone. The R voter and Dem voters need results or the Dems will lose The House is my prediction.
Can you afford to pay the taxes to support these goodies? Entitlements don't go away. Your descendants will be paying for these entitlements with cash, violent streets, and very little money left over for luxuries like food. Check out Venezuela. Everyone is hungry. The social agenda is draining them dry. Many have left and come here. Before social programs and taxes, the people were doing just fine.
Wishful thinking. Manchin is the only Democrat who could win a statewide election in WV. When he goes, a Republican will fill his seat. And be careful how you beat him up - if he decides to switch parties, the Senate majority changes, McConnell is once again in charge, and Biden's presidency is effectively over.
Manchin is infuriating but at least sometimes seems to be trying to inject conservative ideas into Democratic legislation. He's far more useful as a Democratic obstructionist than he would be as a Republican.
This is so wrong. If we piss him off, the R’s win. If we don’t, the R’s win.
That IS Manchin’s plan. He’ll join the R’s if they win, by saying he diluted these changes (ie he was a spy). Otherwise, he says he helped create them.
So, piss him off. Nothing to lose.
Now is the ONLY time to do something. If we don’t act RIGHT NOW, the Rs win in 2022 & 2024
Instead of targeting a Democratic Senator - who at least helps to create a Democratic majority in the Senate - let's make sure to re-elect Sen.Raphael Warnock, and support progressive challengers for currently Republican seats. While I don't agree with Senator Manchin on all that much, he has it right that we need to elect more progressives.
And making sure our voices are heard and reflected in our own local communities, especially with fair redistricting, and support for our school boards.
You are wise, Joan!
Surely Dems have few billionaires who can outbid the republican donors and buy back Manchin and Sinema. Buying politicians seems to be our national pastime. Inane emails asking for my $5 won’t do it.
For $50B over ten years, a drop in the bucket on a $3.5T package, the Dems could offer to pay all 5,000 coal mners in West Virginia $100,000 a year for ten years on the condition that they not work in the coal sector industry for that period and the condition that Manchin would vote to eliminate the filibuster That might get Manchin’s attention. Do something similar for Sinema.
Manchin’s son is running his coal company. Paying his workers to not work won’t impress him one bit.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/30/joe-manchin-climate-coal-baron-stocks
Whoops. Didn’t know that.
Alright, how about this - modify your proposal to $90,000/yr for ten years to the workers, and $50,000,000/yr to Manchin's son. That should impress him a little and serve the extra purpose of laying bare how the game works, and what the priorities are!
* before I posted this, I had to pull out my calculator (an anachronism, I mean my phone, of course) and check the numbers. All the zeroes were spinning in my head. I believe the top line number to pay for such a program for 10 years is actually $5 Billion, not 50! An even smaller drop in the proverbial bucket. Money well spent if it gets us to Yes from Manchin.
Good idea. You’re right about the $5B. My bad. I think there are about 50,000 coal miners in the US, so $50B could keep all of them out of the mines for ten years. Maybe throw in another $50B to buy off potential scabs after they’ve had a year or so on the job to prove they’re able and serious. All fantasy, of course, but kinda fun.
Basically a good idea, with some tuning to promote some kind of ongoing job creation there, which WVa needs and Manchin has worked for in the past.
Yes, tying it to job creation would improve the idea, but the potential effect on global warming by reducing the use of coal would be the biggest plus, I think, other than the effect on Manchin’s positions on filibuster and the Build Back Better legislation.
Does anyone know if there are Russian or Chinese dollars flooding into these two states like the aluminum plant in KY?
Right on!
Manchin stated one of his aims is that he will bring moderate Republicans into the fold with his actions. I say Manchin should reveal his true colors as a coal-business-funded actor who is as obstructionist as most Republicans, who therefore is a Republican.
Both Manchin and Sinema appear to be Rs in camo as both are heavily invested in fossil fuel industry. Manchin's daughter is a CEO of a major pharma company. So anythimg he supports has a dollar sign attached gor him
Manchin is an openly conservative, openly pro-fossil fuel and pro-big-business Democrat. If his activity results in the Freedom to Vote passing in time to make a difference, we will be celebrating, and it will open serious possibilities of more progressive legislation in the future. If not, doom and gloom; we don't know yet. But we do know who we're dealing with; we know he has plenty of political experience; and we know the $1.9 t American Recovery Act passed after going through Manchin's sieve.
We have also seen progressives in the House standing strong behind the original deal, not giving in to the bait-and-switch attempt of a few so-called moderates.
Sinema worries much more. She reminds me too much of Susan Collins, wanting support from liberals if not progressives while openly fund-raising from right wing business groups that want to kill key provisions of the human infrastructure bill. Sinema was the only democrat who did not co-sponsor S1, the Senate version of the For the People voting rights act.
Without the Freedom to Vote Act, no national election will matter. They’ll all be suspect. I guess he’s our Ferdinand Marcos.
Not only his daughter. I read a tweet recently that his son is in one of the fossil fuel industries and profiting like his daughter. So his job in office is not only for him to gain more wealth but for his children to rake us over the coals too.
Did you see the photo of him on his boat talking down to his constituents in kayaks? Quite the image.
Was, Manchin's daughter was the CEO of Mylan. Mylan is defunct, it merged with Upjohn in 2020 to form Viatris. Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch retired in 2020. But you are right, anything attached to him, his daughter and his wife has a dollar sign attached to it.
Be careful what you wish for. Manchin becoming a Republican would blow up government and destroy the Democrats' only opportunity at "unified" government in over a decade.
I simply dislike his "double-speak." He's protecting his own financial ass-ets. A horse with painted stripes is not a zebra.
I am still not sure he is not simply being black mailed, or paid.
Sinema will no doubt be primaries. She’s in a purple state, though one where the election results can be overturned by R’s in a whim. Manchin’s seat will be R next time. The amazing thing is he’s from one of the poorest states in the union - one that takes from the fed much much more than they put in. Biden’s agenda would no doubt help most West Virginians, so just whom is he representing of the tiny proportion of Americans that live there anyway?
Manchin is representing himself. West Virginians need all the fed dollars they can get.
Why does everyone say that the next W. VA seat will be republican when 70% of West VA voters support these bills and raising taxes? Why in the world would they vote republican when the republicans also do not support the infrastructure?
They are still waiting for clean coal. Cognitive disconnect.
Democrats seem to have trouble finding candidates who can forcefully articulate and defend their policies to average voters, and explain clearly how the benefits from investing in societal goods will flow to their communities.
It is worth thinking about how much better off our country would be at this moment with a few more real Dems in the Senate and House.
Admitting DC and Puerto Rico as states would be a big help in the liberal Senator count. WV is not going to elect a liberal dem...they still think coal will come back. Many of the D's in WV have been D's for a long time...from the days of Sen Byrd and he'd probably be playing the same game as Manchin. The man has never had this much power. I certainly didn't know his name until the last 2 years and I live in MD
I disagree . Those two words are at the base of democracy. We are not people of one voice, one opinion. That is not democracy.
And democracy can tolerate your disagreement.
Flawless choice of words Kathy!
RIGHT ON!
EXACTLY!!
Bravo!
Very well done, Dr. Angle!!
Apply intense pressure to Manchin and Sinema and see which one changes parties first.
Plus they both know that the next Senator from their state will be a Republican.
This is a terrrific idea! I think you should send it via email to both of these "right wing" supposed Dems as a heads up and a warning! And please, send it to Jaime Harrison at the DNC.