Joe Manchin is a red herring
Or how the media narrative is lying to you, October 27th edition
I saw a tweet this morning that I’d like to ruminate on for a bit. Here’s the tweet:
There are so many problems with this tweet and it underscores the ridiculous narratives that thrive today in Big Media.
First, this is entirely an ad hominem attack - Joe Manchin is not to be trusted because he is an investor in a coal plant. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant. What is true is that he represents people that live in a state where they make their living on coal production. It is inherent in his role as their Senator to represent their interests, and rightly so.
Second, I am relatively certain Joe Manchin is not the only Democratic Senator who is against the ludicrously expensive green policies that the Social Democratic faction of the Democratic party is trying to pass. It is a quant narrative you’re being told with little evidence supporting it - has every Democratic Senator gone on record for these policies? No, they are happy to stay quiet and let Joe Manchin take the heat.
Third, I am simply baffled by the lack of understanding of our system of government and its checks and balances. The Senate is intentionally a more deliberative body to protect against dangerously short-sited policies and the fleeting fancies of the current public/media climate, and to encourage compromise. The American people, in their infinite wisdom, sent 50 Ds and 50 Rs to the current Senate to represent them. Does this indicate the people’s preference for a radical agenda only supported by a faction of one party?
(Quick Aside - Joe Manchin is at least the 51st Senator that opposes this legislation - including 50 Rs. In what world is the minority of Senators now entitled to passing their legislation?)
Fourth, trust in the federal government to solve such a crisis is unsupportable by the evidence. These are the same people and institutions that have made little or no progress in all of the current crises, including: Afghanistan, China’s growing power and influence (see supersonic rockets), the border crisis, high inflation, supply chain woes, continued mismanagement of the pandemic, inability to investigate the origins of COVID, dirty tricks in our elections etc. We should believe them capable of “fixing” an issue that is an order of magnitude more complex - the climate?
Fifth, if you are paying attention you know that spending these trillions of dollars that we do not have means one thing: the Fed will print more money, increasing already high inflation and making your wages and savings less valuable. This hurts one class of people more than any other: the poor. This is likely a part of the Democratic strategy - by making our poorest citizens even poorer, these citizens will be even more dependent on their government masters for goods and services.
Finally, I am deeply disturbed at the naive willingness of the left to haphazardly jettison fundamental parts of our political system - crucial aspects that have protected the world’s oldest and most successful Republic for 250 years. People on the left have recently advocated to eliminate or radically change: the electoral college, the makeup of the Supreme Court, the deliberative process of the Senate and the nature and oversight of our elections. If enacted, these will be uncorrectable disasters that will quicken our demise. The hubris required to believe you can design a lasting political system better than Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, etc is hard to comprehend. While you’re tearing down the safeguards of our fragile Republic, I wonder if your room is clean?
Having won the national election so narrowly in 2020, Democrats are now frustrated that they do not have the votes for their radical agenda. Rather than reaching across faction and party lines to develop policies that bipartisan representation could support, they are attempting to seize power by radically changing our government and the rules of the republic. Beware.