Up To Date With Ethan Callender Entry 25: Double Manchin

 Up To Date With Ethan Callender Entry 25: Double Manchin

Senator Joe Manchin is a Congressman tasked with representing the people of West Virginia. This is no easy task by itself, especially as a Democrat in such a Republican-leaning state. However, Manchin has completely failed at this task in the most spectacular way possible. By rejecting Biden’s Build Back Better plan recently, he is obviously trying to appease the Republicans in the Senate, and yet he has failed to please anybody in either party in this past year. He has become the Senator that both politicians and the masses alike love to hate, and he has even blatantly annoyed and angered President Biden and his administration. How did America get to the point where one maverick Congressman could hold up an entire agenda? What is the deal with Joe Manchin?

For one thing, it’s worth noting that Manchin is a career politician with a longstanding reputation for being a rather conservative Democrat. Before joining the Senate, he was a fixture in the state politics of West Virginia even as it slowly shifted from solidly Democratic to heavily Republican. When he did join the Senate, his list of credentials included being the West Virginia Governor until his election to the Senate. However, credentials don’t always equate to competence, and Sen. Manchin has been a prime example of that this year. Remember that he is representing the people of West Virginia? Let’s see how that state is doing, and what its people want. My only hint is that in most categories, West Virginia is ranked quite low on lists.

But first, we need background on the Build Back Better plan that President Biden has proposed. It includes universal preschool for kids aged three and four. It also consists of various other measures intended to help America’s children and accordingly secure our nation’s future. It expands Medicare, caps insulin prices, and also contains massive amounts of money to combat climate change. Sounds like a good bill, right? Well, Sen. Manchin objects to it as written due to debt and inflation concerns. All of this is while his state ranks 45th in education, 47th in healthcare, 48th in economy, and dead last in terms of infrastructure according to US News and World Report. Biden’s plan, as mentioned earlier, would help improve all of that.

Based on the above information, one can surmise that Sen. Manchin is out of touch with the needs of his constituents. It’s not surprising, given he’s a politician in the 21st century, but to be blinded to this degree is alarming. As I said in Entry 18, he has the excuse of being in a Republican-dominated state. Yet that doesn’t excuse blatant conflicts of interest in addition to being a bumbling stooge. Case in point, his ties to the coal industry. Yes, coal is a West Virginia institution, but I’m not going to lie and say that it has any place in 21st century America. Then again, neither do mediocre oligarchs like Joe Manchin. Amazingly, this corruption is plainly legal, as lawmakers’ investments are barely covered in Congress’ ethics codes. In other words, a nation founded on capitalist ideals failed to account for capitalism in its own government. And just like that, I’m going to bang my head against a wall.

But before that, I have to finish this entry. In conclusion, Senator Manchin is one of the most pathetic excuses for a Congressman out there right now. Say what you will about Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Madison Cawthorn (among many others), but they are so radicalized, stupid, and radically stupid that I can’t take them seriously at all. Manchin seems like St. Peter by comparison, but to continue the use of the Papal analogy, he reminds me of the Renaissance-era Popes. You see, the Popes of this era have a terrible reputation, one of enriching themselves instead of doing their f***ing jobs. Again, Senator Joe Manchin has one job: to represent the interests of the people of West Virginia. He’s failed even more at his job than anybody who ever worked at Enron back in the day. He’s embarrassed himself for the whole nation to see more than even a socially awkward teenager. Finally, he has destroyed any hope of Biden’s agenda getting passed in its current state, just like that meteor that killed the dinosaurs. If the Democrats get torpedoed in the upcoming midterms as is currently projected, this Senator will be the only one to blame.