The New York Jets of Politics
I made a joke on Twitter the other day:
If you don’t follow football, this might not mean much of anything to you. The Jets are not the worst franchise in the NFL. They probably aren’t even in the bottom five. The Browns, Bengals, Texans, and Lions are all way worse. They aren’t losers. Rather, they simply aren’t winners. They’re the team that comes close to being good but never quite makes it there. They’re the team that “wins the offseason,” meaning they spend a lot of money for players. But spending money isn’t the only thing you need to do to have success. You also need to have a plan and clear leadership. Everyone needs to be on the same page. When you aren’t, it all falls apart. And that’s where the hashtag #LOLJETS comes from.
That’s also why they remind me of the Democrats.
Exactly who is in charge of this party? On the other side of the aisle, Trump has a firm grip on leadership among Republicans. He might be insane but at least he’s got his hands on the wheel. Who’s the Trump of the Democratic Party? Is it Joe Biden? Is it the progressives? No. It would seem that the people who are in control of the Dems are Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.
If you don’t know who they are — I’M SO JEALOUS OF YOU!
Joe Manchin is a Senator from West Virginny. He likes to paint himself as a moderate, centrist, Democrat but he’s really just a rich guy who played the game well. Joe made his money in coal, specifically with the company Enersystems. In 2000, when Joe became Secretary of State in WV he handed control of the company over to his son (also named Joe). But I’m sure they never talk about the business he founded. Just because it accounts for 30% of Joe Senior’s wealth and most of his investment income that doesn’t mean he’d be concerned about it. Oh, did I happen to mention that Joe is Chairman of the Energy Committee in the Senate? You know, the people who have jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that a guy who made and maintains his wealth from those very minerals ends up on a committee regulating them.
Krysten is a different sort of animal. She’s more of a Darth Vader-like character, in that she’s “more machine now than man.”
Krysten started off her career in politics as a member of the Green Party. You remember them, right? The Ralph Nader and Jill Stein party? Yeah, that’s the one. She started out her political career as a member of one of the most liberal and progressive parties going. But that didn’t work out so she jumped ship to the Democrats in 2004. She would eventually rise through the ranks to become Arizona’s first female senator. She’s also openly bisexual and one of the few members of congress to be non-theist. Sounds like a pretty progressive person, no?
For whatever reason (money, cough cough, money, cough cough, so much money, cough) Sinema has lost her way over the years. She’s one of the more conservative members of Congress, voting with Trump more than 50% of the time. She used to be a strong proponent of raising the minimum wage. But when given the chance to do so in March of this year, here’s how she responded:
Cute ‘fit Krys. By the way, she’s carrying an expensive handbag filled with cake for Republican congressmen there. Not sure there’s ever been a better analogy for her recent career than voting to deny people a livable wage while parading around like Marie Antoinette, cake and all. To do this with such a casual, almost gleeful attitude is shocking for someone who is supposed to be on our side. Ahhhh, but there’s the rub. She’s not. Not anymore.
Power is a seductive thing. And right now, Sinema and Manchin have been plied with liquor, expensive gifts, and are in bed waiting for power to come and take them. Manchin’s perspective is easily understood. At some point, he realized that it was more cost-effective to just run for office instead of bribing, I mean LOBBYING, members of Congress to get what he wanted. Sinema is a bit more of a mystery. At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter why they are holding their party’s agenda hostage.
Biden was swept into office in 2020 because he ran on a number of progressive policies. He promised to “tackle the environmental emergency”, “secure environmental justice”, and create a “clean energy future”. He promised to make college “affordable” and “give every American health care”. He said he would “achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country”. These quotes are all pulled directly from his campaign’s website platform. Joe Biden got elected to fight for and institute real, progressive change.
And what has he done so far?
Not much!
Sure, part of this is because Sinema and Manchin are blocking his efforts in Congress. But there are a bunch of things Joe could do TODAY with a single signature. He could forgive student debt and unsaddle millions of young Americans from a burden that will take them half of their lives to pay off. Do you know how big that debt is right now? Around $1.73 TRILLION. Here’s how much that debt has increased since 2006:
Seems bad!
There are other things Joe could do all on his own as well. He could direct the IRS to aggressively pursue wealthy people who don’t pay their fair share of taxes instead of going after poor people. He could direct the EPA to go after polluters with more vigor. He could charge the military with fixing any number of domestic issues like homelessness and infrastructure emergencies. There are literally a dozen things he could do tomorrow. But will he? He hasn’t yet.
Biden needs to get tough with Sinema and Manchin. The Democrats didn’t lose a few elections this week because the Republicans have better ideas. They don’t. They lost because of a) racism; b) because the Democrats haven’t shown they can do anything meaningful. For all the talk about the two bills (BBB and reconciliation), they haven’t been passed yet! Words are meaningless. People want to see action. They want to believe that the people in charge have their backs and are doing everything they can to make their lives better. Do you feel like Biden and the Dems are doing that? I don’t.
And here is where we come back to how the Dems are like the NY Jets. They aren’t losers. They just aren’t winners.
The Jets haven’t won anything since the 60s. Much like the Democrats who haven’t passed anything substantially progressive since the same time period. And no, I don’t count the ACA as being substantial. For all the help it offered to people without insurance, it was still largely a giveaway to drug companies and a massive step away from universal healthcare, which we so desperately need.
Democrats have punted on pretty much every issue of consequence in my lifetime. They have done nothing to stop the proliferation of monopolistic corporations. In fact, it’s only gotten worse. They’ve done nothing meaningful on climate change. They’ve done nothing to curb gun violence. They’ve done nothing to stop student debt from exploding. Look at that chart above once more. Eight of those years belong to Obama and Biden.
It took an economic crisis for them to finally take baby steps towards regulating lenders. Democrats have done little to nothing with regard to high-speed rail or infrastructure. We don’t even have a spaceship program. Nor have Democrats pushed to pass the Equal Rights Amendment with enough vigor. Policing is still out of control. They’ve done nothing to stop the war on drugs. Or the prison industrial complex. I could go on and on. And sure, it isn’t all their fault. Republicans have basically stopped trying to govern and now seem to exist to own the libs and inflate the Orange One’s ego. But those are excuses and excuses are like assholes — everyone’s got one and they all stink.
The biggest reason, I believe, that people are apathetic to politics and voting is because they feel that it doesn’t matter what happens. Their voice makes no difference. Imagine what the elections this past week would have been like if Biden had done a few of the things I mentioned above. Millions of people with their college debt erased. Families reunited after a change in how drug laws are prosecuted. Biden could pardon thousands of people serving jail sentences for weed. But no, all we’ve heard over the past 10 months is how the Democrats can’t agree.
We don’t get the Super Bowl. We get the Butt Fumble.
Instead of hope and meaningful change, we get the Dan Marino fake spike.
And instead of leadership with a clear vision, we get Broadway Joe.
Biden and the rest of the Democratic leadership need to put away the carrots and start using sticks on Manchin and Sinema. Strip them of their committee assignments. Deny them campaign funds. Run ads in their states against them. Do everything possible to make their lives miserable and force them to put their own careers in jeopardy.
But Matt, you might be saying, if the Dems get tough with them they might leave the party. Yeah, and? Sure, there will be some short-term consequences that might not be great. I don’t care. It’s time for this crap to stop. We’ve got less than a year until the midterm elections. Democrats have to show they can do SOMETHING meaningful. Think of it this way. If you hire me to be a nurse and I refuse to care for patients, what good am I at all? Manchin and Sinema were elected to push progressive agendas through Congress. If they aren’t willing to do that, then I’m not sure why they’re there at all. It’s not like the ideas are radical or unpopular. They’re the literal will of the American people.
The Jets will never be good until they address the vacuum of leadership that is rampant throughout the franchise. Millions of dollars in free agency and hiring hot young coaches will only get you so far. The same can be said of the Democrats and their limp response to renegade members holding up the future of millions of Americans. The message needs to be clear: get on board or get out of the way.
Until that happens, the Democrats will be the party of the Butt Fumble.
