Seniors not getting eyeglasses or diabetics getting price gouged on insulin are all bad, but won’t signal the death of our republic: the failure to pass meaningful voting rights certainly will
The irony of "Manchin" & "Sinema" is killing me. If someone asked me to sum up our culture in two words, I mean, come on... Both are easily in the top ten. And considering the fact that we may very well be buried by the claws of precisely these two turncoats? It's almost grotesquely poetic.
I just noticed your subheader diverting from the Biden administration's abject failure and breaking of their promise to progressives regarding passage of Bernie's social services bill to voting rights, following the lead of MSNBC and Chuck Schumer. Very disappointing to see the leading progressive talker following neoliberal talking points and minimizing the importance of dental and hearing care to the underserved seniors I see each and every day.
Manchin and Sinema are NOT part of the caucus...it is made up only of House Members. I mostly agree with your writings Tom, but you should watch your facts!
Maybe a way to get the Build Back Better bill though would be to include funding to greatly increase the number of court hearings for asylum seekers, with the goal of having all 2021 asylum seeker cases resolved in 6 months. We should stress that we don’t have open borders like some in the media claim. This may get some Republicans on board or at least get more voters in favor of the bill.
To increase funding for Build Back Better, capital gains over $400,000 could be taxed the same as regular income including being taxed for Social Security and Medicare. There shouldn’t be an increase in nicotine taxes as this would go against the pledge not to raise taxes on people with incomes less than $400,000. Maybe Voter Rights could be included. We need to get populism working for us.
As Thom noted, "the entire GOP is committed to voter suppression, dark money, and gerrymandering." And, not coincidentally, the elected officials who pledge their fealty to the GOP (and Trump) were elected because of "voter suppression, dark money, and gerrymandering." It's a solid strategy as long as money is speech, corporations are people, and the general welfare of our citizens is irrelevant.
When we focus on electoral politics and our "democracy," it must be asked what kind of democracy does a country have if millions will still vote for those who are outwardly sociopathic and ignorant with intent. In addition, that 6 million dollar bill was Bernie Sanders' bill, it had components that Biden actively campaigned against and his weak endorsement of it, as well as his oft-touted "negotiating" skills, killed it just as much as Manchin or Sinema did. Finally, if I'm "free" to vote for representatives who eschew science in the interest of electoral and economic gain, as the Biden administration and our democratic mayor in Chicago are currently doing, what is the value of casting a vote. A smoldering death of us and our planet versus a more rapid one I suppose.
The irony of "Manchin" & "Sinema" is killing me. If someone asked me to sum up our culture in two words, I mean, come on... Both are easily in the top ten. And considering the fact that we may very well be buried by the claws of precisely these two turncoats? It's almost grotesquely poetic.
I just noticed your subheader diverting from the Biden administration's abject failure and breaking of their promise to progressives regarding passage of Bernie's social services bill to voting rights, following the lead of MSNBC and Chuck Schumer. Very disappointing to see the leading progressive talker following neoliberal talking points and minimizing the importance of dental and hearing care to the underserved seniors I see each and every day.
Manchin and Sinema are NOT part of the caucus...it is made up only of House Members. I mostly agree with your writings Tom, but you should watch your facts!
Maybe a way to get the Build Back Better bill though would be to include funding to greatly increase the number of court hearings for asylum seekers, with the goal of having all 2021 asylum seeker cases resolved in 6 months. We should stress that we don’t have open borders like some in the media claim. This may get some Republicans on board or at least get more voters in favor of the bill.
To increase funding for Build Back Better, capital gains over $400,000 could be taxed the same as regular income including being taxed for Social Security and Medicare. There shouldn’t be an increase in nicotine taxes as this would go against the pledge not to raise taxes on people with incomes less than $400,000. Maybe Voter Rights could be included. We need to get populism working for us.
I look at Manchin and Sinema as the polyps (but not necessarily cancer) in the intestines of democracy.
As Thom noted, "the entire GOP is committed to voter suppression, dark money, and gerrymandering." And, not coincidentally, the elected officials who pledge their fealty to the GOP (and Trump) were elected because of "voter suppression, dark money, and gerrymandering." It's a solid strategy as long as money is speech, corporations are people, and the general welfare of our citizens is irrelevant.
When we focus on electoral politics and our "democracy," it must be asked what kind of democracy does a country have if millions will still vote for those who are outwardly sociopathic and ignorant with intent. In addition, that 6 million dollar bill was Bernie Sanders' bill, it had components that Biden actively campaigned against and his weak endorsement of it, as well as his oft-touted "negotiating" skills, killed it just as much as Manchin or Sinema did. Finally, if I'm "free" to vote for representatives who eschew science in the interest of electoral and economic gain, as the Biden administration and our democratic mayor in Chicago are currently doing, what is the value of casting a vote. A smoldering death of us and our planet versus a more rapid one I suppose.