It's not easy to live one's life in strict conformity to one's ideals. Ideals, after all, are just that; they're a kind of 'pie in the sky' aspect of our personal philosophy, a way of reaching for what one perceives as the best way to live and to treat other people.
Ideals should be set by each individual person as a lofty set of goals that one realizes are, on some level, unreachable. Then, why bother? That is a fair question and the answer is very straight-forward: just the act of reaching upward, the very attempt to live by one's ideals is of great value. Just by reaching towards what one considers to be a level of perfection, one advances toward it. It's of little consequence and pretty much a given that we'll fall short. It's the trying, the striving, that counts.
So, here we are in the political conundrum of our moment: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are members of the Democratic Party. And, both of them, for reasons that don't really seem clear and above board, are acting like Republicans. Why? The voters in West Virginia and Arizona who put them back in Washington for another term have every right to expect them to work as a part of the Democratic caucus to accomplish the Biden administration's agenda. But, instead of doing that, they are balking at using the parliamentary options that could allow the Dems to move ahead, despite the monkey-wrenching that Moscow Mitch continues to do, and has done since the beginning of Obama's first term.
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| They're either crooked or stupid....you decide. |
When you are receiving praise from Donald J. Idiot for your work in congress, you are not behaving as any self-respecting Democrat would behave. In fact, you are behaving like the famous aviator who flew to Ireland when his 'flight plan' had said he was going to California. He became known as 'Wrong way Corrigan' and never admitted that he'd done it on purpose....though it was highly suspected that he did.
Joe Manchin has repeatedly maintained that he is an idealist who believes that bi-partisanship is the way things must get done in Washington. He claims that without that, the work the government does is not truly representing all Americans. Of course, he is simply blowing smoke out of his ass.
I am not willing to take him at his word for one simple reason: bi-partisanship under McConnell's leadership in the senate is impossible. The GOPs simply want it to be their way and no compromises will be considered....so, their idea of 'negotiating' is to insist that it go all their way, and they will just keep on throwing up obstacles until it does. Nice, huh? As long as Manchin and Sinema keep betraying the trust of their constituencies and garnering the praises of the Idiot and Moscow Mitch, nothing will get done, which suits the GOPs just fine as they prepare to steal the mid-term elections via voter suppression all across the country.
I hope you're not still in doubt that this is precisely their plan. It couldn't be more obvious that Republicans in primarily red states have put in place all the laws, restrictions and stumbling blocks that will keep the people who led the Blue Wave in 2020 home and make voting by them so fraught with difficulty that many will simply feel overwhelmed. And, then, the GOPs soar to a new era of unlimited power because they will have an iron grip on the electoral process and have already proven that they are willing to pervert, or destroy, any ability by the Dems to re-achieve full and fair elections. That will be GONE.....legislated away and manipulated by people who only care about having the power to run our society, and who are unrestrained by any considerations of legality, honesty, transparency, fairness or integrity.
It's perfectly clear at this point that their intent is to destroy anything resembling a working democracy. That is no longer in doubt or even worthy of discussion. The GOPs have already moved beyond philosophical, and legal discussion....and gone straight to the fascist playbook.
The Idiot's 'Big Lie' is a primary fascist strategy. Don't think so? Then you don't know squat about how Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Donny Boy may be an idiot and a nut-job, but he's also a very adept and sneaky strategist. You get a critical portion of the populace to believe a major lie (i.e. that you won the election despite the fact that you lost it by 7 million votes) and you are on your way to having them believe any damn thing you want them to.....including the idea that you will be miraculously re-instated to the Oval Office in August, despite the fact that there is zero possibility that can happen. Just the fact that he can get his Kool-Aids to believe that is a flashing red-light on the instrument panel of American politics that no conscious American should ignore.
He wants his sycophants to keep believing fervently in his destiny to rule, and to become the Uber Leader that the Germans gave the name 'Fuhrer' to. Der Fuhrer was not merely a title it was an elevated state of perfection. Look at the Dear Leader cult in North Korea for a more contemporary version of the same totalitarian state. Once the Leader has established that his word is law and that his version of unreality is actually the only thing that is real.....all else falls into place. People learn that there is a high price for remaining defiant or even uncompliant. The final straw would be complete government control of all information. Once that is in place, it's a downhill slide into the full 1984 nightmare scenario.
There was an interview posted this morning on Salon.com: https://www.salon.com/2021/06/14/former-harvard-psychiatrist-lance-dodes-trumps-psychosis-is-still-an-enormous-danger/
Dr. Lance Dodes, a highly respected psychiatrist and professor of same at Harvard, recently retired. The above linked interview describes his assessment of Donald J. Trump, and it is dire. He has been saying all along that the Idiot is a mentally-ill disaster waiting to happen. Well, he did already happen, but now he's intent on continuing the mayhem and foolishness that he merely started. The list of transgressions is impressive....and very long.
And, one can only imagine what Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are thinking as they assist the Idiot in bringing his toxic agenda back to American politics. This is neither a case of clinging to 'ideals' as Manchin keeps insisting it is, nor a case of 'doing the right thing'. Both Manchin and Sinema are performing as if they were GOP operatives, and they are either faking this aspect of it, or they are just straight-up LIARS. What they are NOT, is realistic and honest.
Again: when you are getting praised by the Idiot, you are sure as hell not doing what your Democratic fellow representatives and senators need you to do.
In fact: DEAR JOE AND KYRSTEN.....YOU ARE WORKING AGAINST DEMOCRACY AND AGAINST THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED YOU.
So, how 'bout it: WAKE UP! Smell the damn coffee and get back to some semblance of reality.
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