JOE MANCHIN- POWER HUNGRY RACIST

Joe Manchin – We See You

As is patently obvious, the US has an unenviable gun violence

problem. No other Western country has anything like the

horrifying number of gun deaths that the US endures year after

year. That is American exceptionalism at its worst, matched only by

the craven and morally bankrupt attitudes of way too many members

of Congress. And at the top of that particular pile of ignominy rests

supposed West Virginia Democrat, Joe Manchin.

Manchin, worth over seven million dollars at the last count, is nothing

more than a Republican in Democrat clothing. Edmund Burke is

attributed as saying:

“The only thing for the triumph of evil is for god men to do nothing.”

That would be true for Manchin, if only he was a good man. But he is

not. His previous “achievements” as Governor of West Virginia

include slamming the Paris climate agreement and suing the

Environmental Protection Agency. If you were told that those

actions were taken by Ted Cruz or Mitch McConnell, awful as they

are, you would nevertheless be unsurprised. However, as the most

conservative member of his party in Congress, Manchin prides

himself on his “moderate” policy positions. For moderate, read

conservative.

In the last two weeks, the US has experienced two more headline

grabbing mass shootings in Boulder and Atlanta. In 2020, the year

of COVID-19, the US actually experienced more gun deaths than any

previous year. A sizeable majority of Americans are in favor of

common-sense gun reform, such as universal background checks and

tightening up private gun sale laws. And then there’s the Mountain

State’s good ole Joe Manchin.

Manchin of course occupies a unique position of power in the Biden-

era Senate, with a 50 – 50 split between Democrats and Republicans

In the post-Trump Congress, Manchin now finds himself an unlikely

king-maker in a Senate split 50-50 on party lines (with Vice-

President Harris being able to break a voting tie on legislation should

a vote fall exactly 50-50). Manchin, with one eye forever on his

conservative leaning constituents, and never on the morgues piling up

with a steady stream of gun violence victims, can now throw his

weight around like never before.

West Virginia has a population of 1.7 million. The US has a

population of over 330 million, again most of whom want meaningful,

effective gun control measures. How grotesque is it then that

Manchin and his relatively tiny base of constituents can hold the

rest of the country to ransom over something as pressing as gun

control reform? Nauseatingly, he did the same with regards to the

proposed increase in the federal minimum wage to fifteen dollars an

hour.

Every time there is yet another gun related outrage in the country,

the same scenarios play out. Democrats, progressives and those not

clinically insane, call for more effective gun controls to be put in

place. In response, Republicans, the NRA and sociopaths across the

land scream foul play and that the Second Amendment is under

assault (which is ironic as it is schools, malls, bars and synagogues

that are actually too often under AR-15 assault). That’s exactly

where Manchin finds himself rubbing shoulders with. And if the

measure of a person is made by who they keep company with,

Manchin falls short, way short.

Manchin is nothing more than just another Democrat dinosaur,

wedded to outdate, not fit for purpose, policies and ideologies of an

era long gone and better forgotten. The future of this country

rests with the likes of TIP Political Party, Kamala Harris,

Andrew Yang, AOC, Stacey Abrams, Leticia James and so

on. As progressives, we have to keep hammering away at getting

Manchin and his kind out of office permanently. At least with Cruz,

McConnell, Trump, Graham and the long list of vile Republican

villains, you get to expect the worst. But Manchin? A supposed

Democrat? Arguably more sickening as he masquerades as the one

thing, yet acts as the other.

Sadly, we all know that any day soon, we’ll get breaking news of yet

another gun violence tragedy in the absence of actual, meaningful

action to do something about this. Equally as sad, we will be

confronted with the specter of Manchin coming out with the usual

empty platitudes of regret, coupled with do-nothing proposals of

action.

Joe Manchin – we see you and all that you stand for. And just like

the dinosaurs that you try and replicate with your policies on gun

control, the minimum wage and climate change, your days are

numbered.