In his recent piece for OccupyDemocrats.com, Colin Taylor offers a timely analysis of the “Democratic Party’s inherent ideological schizophrenia” and “the oligarchy’s ability to outright purchase the votes of our elected politicians.” Of course, neither of these problems are anything new, yet as Taylor reminds us, both are currently being played out in a way that threatens to derail President Joe Biden’s overwhelmingly popular “Build Back Better” plan, which Taylor says is the “first real chance that the Democratic party has had in a decade – and quite possibly the last chance it might ever have – to enact meaningful material change in the lives of the American people.”
As Taylor points out, two “conservative Democrats” – Senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema – are key players in this looming threat, as both are obstructing the Democratic party from passing the policy platform it got elected on in 2020.
Following is an excerpt from Taylor’s piece, one that’s entitled “Joe Manchin and Sinema’s Sabotage of Biden’s Agenda Is a Moral Obscenity.”
The humiliating debacle currently playing out in the United States Senate is a perfect illustration of the shameless corruption and deep-rooted dysfunction that rots in the core of American politics. The Democratic Party is faced with the first real chance it has had in a decade – and quite possibly the last chance it might ever have – to enact meaningful material change in the lives of the American people and prove to a disillusioned and disgusted nation that the government is actually capable of doing something to make people’s lives better.
But instead of eagerly and enthusiastically seizing at the chance to transform American society for the better, the Democratic Party’s inherent ideological schizophrenia and the oligarchy’s ability to outright purchase the votes of our elected politicians are poised to collapse the precarious house of cards that President Biden’s agenda rests upon.
Democratic leadership loves to tout the “big tent” of competing interests and ideologies that make up the party’s political body, but time and time again a tiny minority of conservative DINOs [Democrats in Name Only], deep in the pockets of lobbyists and oligarchs, successfully obstruct the Democratic Party from passing the policy platform it got elected on.
This time, it comes down to two conservative Senators, Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, both wealthy and deeply beholden to dark money donors. They have decided to throw a tantrum over the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that contains the bulk of the Biden administration’s political agenda because they’re “worried about spending.” This is preposterous given their unquestioning support for spending $7.5 trillion on the military and defense corporation contracts over the past ten years, but their excuses are by default accepted as both reasonable and appropriate by the corporate media jackals whose superiors are also “worried about spending,” which in this case translates to “having to raise taxes on the wealthy to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.”
If there is one thing that the pitiless reaper of American capitalism is actually efficient at doing, it is severing society’s human connection to its victims. The homeless are driven away from public areas by force, minorities segregated into ghettoes, poor families gentrified out of their communities by the inexorable march of capital; they are put out of sight, out of mind so the rest of us don’t have to trouble our consciences. It is the same with the human element of our political negotiations; all this obsessive fixation on the numbers and performative pearl-clutching over “how are we gonna pay for it” completely divorce the issue from the transformative effects that it would have on the wellbeing of the American people.
. . . While the media loves to portray Manchin as a “moderate” and a “centrist,” there is nothing moderate about the unforgivable moral obscenity he’s committing by opposing this bill – and we need to start treating him and every other greedy self-serving “centrist” willing to sell out our nation to the wealthy with the same disgust as we would any terrorist; they are holding the well-being of our people and the future of our planet hostage and are making it very clear they’re willing to crash this plane.
To read Colin Taylor's article in its entirety, click here.
Related Off-site Links:
Manchin and Sinema Are Hurting Their Party More Than Any Republican Ever Could – Lincoln Mitchell (CNN Politics, October 1, 2021).
Manchin Admits Getting His Bill Passed and Then Tanking Progressive Package Was Always the Plan – Kenny Stancil (Common Dreams, September 30, 2021).
Top Bernie Sanders Aide Details Just How Popular the $3.5 Trillion Package Truly Is – Common Dreams (October 1, 2021).
Corporate Media Fallacies About the Chaos on Capitol Hill – Jeff Cohen (Common Dreams, October 1, 2021).
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slams Manchin for Opposing $3.5 Trillion Bill But Approving Defense Budget – Sharon Zhang (TruthOut, October 1, 2021).
Progressives Change Balance of Power and Weaken Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema – Darragh Roche (Newsweek, October 1, 2021).
“A Moral Crisis”: Reverend William Barber on Why Congress Must Pass $3.5 Trillion Bill – Democracy Now! (September 30, 2021).
Climate Critics Warn Joe Manchin “Holding a Gun to the Planet’s Head” – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, October 1, 2021).
The Budget Reconciliation Fight Isn’t Really About Progressives Vs. Moderates – Max B. Sawicky (In These Times, September 30, 2021).
Progressives Hold the Line as “Manchema” Side With Oligarchy Against Biden Agenda – Jon Queally (Common Dreams, September 30, 2021).
Big Money’s War on the Build Back Better Plan – Sondra Youdelman (OtherWords, September 29, 2021).
Progressives Now Hold the Cards in Congress – Nick Vachon (In These Times, August 26, 2021).
UPDATES: Sen. Bernie Sanders Urges Progressives to Stand Firm in Democratic Battle Over Biden Agenda – Ed Pilkington (The Guardian, October 3, 2021).
The Policies in Congress’ $3.5 Trillion Budget Package Are Popular – Like, Really Popular – Salon (October 3, 2021).
Corporate Media Want Us to Think Biden “Lost” to Progressives on Infrastructure – William Rivers Pitt (TruthOut, October 4, 2021).
The GOP Is Rooting for Failure, But the American People Support Biden’s Sweeping Agenda – Jesse Jackson (Common Dreams, October 5, 2021).
What’s Wrong With Kyrsten Sinema? – Michael Hamer (Michael-In-Norfolk, October 5, 2021).
So-Called “Centrists” Are Really Incredibly Dangerous Extremists – Peter Bloom (Common Dreams, October 5, 2021).
TV Reports on Manchin and Sinema Leave Out Their Financial Conflicts – Spencer Snyder (FAIR, October 22, 2021).
Sinema Says No to Filibuster Reform and Scuttles Democrats’ Voting Rights Hopes – Sam Levine (The Guardian, January 13, 2022).
Manchin Joins Sinema in Destroying Democratic Hopes to Pass Voting Rights – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 14, 2022).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Hamilton Nolan: Quote of the Day – August 3, 2021
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – July 8, 2021
• David Sirota: Quote of the Day – January 26, 2021
• Maebe A. Girl: A “Decidedly Progressive Candidate” for Congress
• Progressive Perspectives on the 2020 U.S. Election Results
• My Summer of Supporting Progressive Down-Ballot Candidates
• Ricardo Levins Morales on the “Deepest Political Fault Line” Separating Democrats
• To Whom the Future of America Belongs
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Quote of the Day – March 10, 2019
Image 1: Photograper unknown.
Image 2: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Unbendable Media.
Image 3: Occupy Democrats.
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