Manchin’s Deal Making

Democrat Senator Manchin from West Virginia has made a career out of bucking his own political party. How else could he have become a millionaire while being a public servant from one of the poorest states in the nation? He has been and remains for sale to the highest bidder.

In a political divide measured by a single vote or two, the cantankerous one wins dollars and power. Manchin has a knack to do this arduous skullduggery. Not everyone does. Susan Collins has tried but to little avail.

No, Manchin is the perfect example for federal elected official who sells his vote to the highest bidder.

His work has made Democrat leadership squirm, including a sitting president. He has given happiness and delight to Mitch McConnell who has used Manchin’s vote for many bills near and dear to Mitch’s heart.

Anyone who says congresspersons – including senators – are not for sale, simply does not read.

Campaign finance regulations are needed to put a stop to this nasty practice. What is right, correct and prudent needs honest votes that demonstrate the values of our democracy and national ideals. Contorting laws and programs to fit ideologically with the bidder with the largest purse, is an embarrassment to and denigration of our national honor.

Like the Supreme Court and its ideological robe wearers, the legal tenets that form the spinal cord of our nation have been bought and paid for by political supporters by hook or by crook. The justices themselves see no money from this perfidy, but they do wield the power to rewrite the laws of our land. What once was to be an infallible hand of justice is now just a joke.

I have been a lifelong respecter of our form of governance. Our history as a nation, too, has been a guiding light in my life. But in my dotage, I am witnessing an utter decline in the moral fabric of those who purport to be our leaders and representatives. A good discussion is one thing. A fixed decision ruled by the purse is another.

I am saddened. I have cause to fear the end of a society that strived for a better way of governance. Now that is heading to the waste dump of history.

How utterly demoralizing.

August 2, 2022

 

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