You may or may not have noticed that there’s a fight brewing between fascism and democracy. And with the way things are shaping up, fascism is going to win.
Which one we end up with depends on two Democrats: Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. If they refuse to carve out a filibuster exception for voting rights, democracy is done.
I imagine they are not stupid people. They know this is the scenario. If we don’t pass the Freedom To Vote Act, Republicans across the nation are going to get away with widespread voter suppression that will jeopardize free and fair elections. Hell, they’ve got half their people believing that all elections are fraudulent. It’s all part of a plan to de-legitimize democracy on a massive scale.
It must be asked: are these two senators quislings masquerading as Democrats? Again, they cannot be so stupid as to think that bipartisanship is the answer to all of democracy’s problems. The majority should be able to function. But when you have a minority party with a tool like the filibuster at hand, there’s no need to do bipartisanship. There’s no need to even take control of a chamber.
I don’t know what Sinema’s deal is. I don’t know who’s bought her off. Manchin is easier to explain; he gets lots and lots of coal money and isn’t going to do anything that impedes their profits. But the fact simply is that they are about to kneecap their political party if they don’t do something about election reform. Are they simply more worried about provincial politics than national ones? That would be myopia of the highest order. It’s either that or they are simply working for the other side. If so, they must be purged. No one wants to lose a solid Democratic seat in West Virginia but Manchin is harmful to the party’s agenda. He may as well be a Republican for all the good he is doing. And I’m sure we can get a true blue senator with integrity to replace Sinema.
We’re running out of time. American fascism is coming back.