Manchin and Sinema have put themselves in a hole of personal and political corruption so deep that voting for the Build Back Better bill is now the only way to dig themselves out of it

 

The continuing noise and gaslighting by Republicans and the far-right media to paint the Biden administration as “incompetent” and pushing a “socialist” agenda must be placed in its proper context, which the “mainstream” media is failing to do. This noise must be contrasted with the moral and ethical corruption of the previous administration, whose defenders must shout as loud as possible to drown out the voices of reason and truth. Most of us know how frustrating it is to deal with just one person who loudly and sarcastically talks over anything they don’t want to hear, but this country must deal with this by the thousands, and probably millions.

As if Democrats don’t have their hands full already with the willfully ignorant and blind, they must also deal with the turncoats in their ranks. We are talking of course about Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin who, The New York Times is reporting, are being paid-off by the millions to do the bidding of those opposed to helping working people. The Times reports that “the stream of cash to the campaigns of Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin from outside normal Democratic channels stands out because many of the donors have little history with them. The financial support is also notable for closely tied it has been to their power over a single piece of legislation, the fact of which continues to rest largely with the two senators because their party cannot afford to lose either of their votes in the evenly divided Senate.”

While Sinema has been “lauded” by the business establishment and billionaires as being their “lead blocker” in opposing minimum tax rates on corporations which pay little or no federal taxes, and on billionaires who do the same, Manchin has, according to the Times, been a beneficiary of the likes of Kenneth Langone, a Republican megadoner who “effusively praised” Manchin for “showing guts and courage” and vowing to “throw one of the biggest fund-raisers I’ve ever had for him.” The Times also mentioned that billionaire Stanley Hubbard, who has given money to Sinema and Manchin, has been exclaiming that they are “good people” who the Democratic Party needs “more of.”

Well, excuse me, but are not all those “good people” as you call them supposed to be in the Republican Party? Are not Democrats supposed to represent people who are not greedy billionaire bastards like you who only think in terms of money and how much more of it they can pocket by not paying taxes and keeping wages low? What good is the Democratic Party if it isn't opposed to this? Somebody has to be.

But the truth is perhaps rather more “complicated.” Sinema and Manchin can alternatively be accused of the most craven kind of cowardice. Instead of showing personal fortitude and a vision for the future of this country, they genuflect and beg for mercy before those who throw the most money around—implying that if they don’t do their bidding, the money will instead be used to paint them as something that truly frightens the rich: "socialists," something that lawmakers who have the good of the people and the long-term survival of the country in the forefront of their ideological principles are called to "frighten" uninformed people. 

One should recall FDR’s famous Madison Square Garden speech in 1936, when he proclaimed he “welcomed” the hatred of those who Sinema and Manchin (and Republicans in general) bow to:

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs; and we know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.

But Sinema and Manchin may be more guilty of something much worse than being merely craven before the organized money mob, as The Guardian points out: personal and political corruption of the most sordid kind. Neither one them are up for election until 2024, yet they are acting as if they have a gun to their heads now which makes no sense save for personal corruption. Combined they have already received at least $6 million in campaign funds from right-wing sources this year alone, an amount that should be a cause of concern. As the Guardian notes, these sums from right-wing PACs and donors “linked to the finance and pharmaceutical industries (and in Manchin’s case, fossil fuel industries in which he has a personal financial stake), have raised ethical concerns over whether Manchin and Sinema are being unduly influenced.”

Well, of course they are. According to Kyle Herrig of the government corruption watchdog group Accountable US, “What else but industry money could explain the manufactured excuses for resisting Build Back Better considering it remains extremely popular, is fully paid for, and would cut costs and taxes for everyday people in Arizona and West Virginia? Corporate interests and billionaires have done very well even during the pandemic.”

But Sinema and Manchin are choosing to ignore this chance to help “regular families and seniors get ahead for a change,” says Herrig. Why do they choose to “squander it over complaints from a handful of rich interests that exploit tax loopholes and ships jobs overseas”—let alone send their money to tax havens not just overseas, but to a state that has established a banking system that allows the rich from all over the world to conceal money for the purpose of tax avoidance—South Dakota, as the Pandora Papers revealed?

The legal definition of “corruption” is, according to that recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, “An act done with the intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. It includes bribery, but is more comprehensive, because an act may be corruptly done, though the advantage to be derived from it be not offered by another.”

The question is has Sinema and Manchin acted in a manner that appears “inconsistent” with their duty to their constituency (meaning working people and Democratic voters), that what they are doing is opposed to the rights of said constituents, that it was done through the agency of bribery, and is corruptly done to be advantageous to them personally and those individuals doing the bribing.

These are serious questions. One thing that is clear is that Manchin and Sinema have dug themselves a hole so deep that voting for the Build Back Better bill is now the only way for them to “prove” that they are not guilty of massive corruption, personally and politically.