because the Republican he’s running against is far worse and Democrats need to retake the Senate, period. You can’t do anything without a majority, that’s just how the whole thing works
Normally I would very much agree, but like…if a “Democrat” habitually votes with the Republicans, then how are they actually Democrat? Manchin’s voting recording is scarcely better than that of Rand Paul and Susan Collins. If you can’t rely on a politician as a Democratic vote, then you don’t have them as part of your potential majority. What good is a vote you can’t rely on?
The Democrats having a majority means they control all committees, which means they control what legislation comes *out* of committees and gets a vote, and what never comes to the floor. They have final say over the rules of parliamentary procedure. They can block Presidential nominees. Controlling Congress, even because of one shitty conservative Senator, basically gives the Democrats the institutional advantage and ability to influence legislation that they completely lack right now, which is why we’re in such constant crisis. People are constantly urging them to fight harder, as if this will materialize a majority out of thin air. If they don’t control either the House or the Senate, they are virtually powerless.
Manchin represents a state that voted 68.5% for Trump, which was literally his largest margin of victory. In West Virginia, Manchin is consistently attacked for being “too liberal.” And like, let’s not forget that “scarcely better” than Rand Paul and Susan Collins still means something, because there’s still a lot of room between the most conservative Democrats and “moderate” Republicans these days. Last summer, Manchin voted against the ACA repeal, while Paul voted for it. Manchin voted against the tax bill while Collins voted for it.
Also, the primary is over. In November he’s up against a Republican, not a more progressive Democrat. It’s going to be one of them seated in the Senate in 2019. Even if control of the Senate were not in play, there is no way anyone on the left could honestly look at his opponent Patrick Morrisey’s positions and conclude it would be better to have him in the Senate. I hope that Manchin gets sidelined in a Democratic controlled Senate, but I’m not willing to risk everything just to punish him for this cowardly, disgusting vote.
Kids, this is strategy not philosophy. You need to look at this at a very, very base level, and that base level is: every red tick in the Houses is an obstacle, every blue tick in the Houses is, at the very least, A LACK OF OBSTACLE.
This is called “hold your nose” voting. Hate Manchin a lot? That’s totally legit. If you’re in the appropriate area, right now it is absolutely also a good idea to start looking for a Democratic challenger to get rid of Manchin for NEXT time. And you should do that now, because it may well TAKE all the rest of the time working to get the right momentum to unseat Manchin. But that’s next time.
For this time, you don’t have another Dem option. You have Manchin, or a red tick. A red tick is REALLY. REALLY. BAD. Manchin is kinda crappy.
If it’s NOT MANCHIN then it will be THE RED TICK. There is no “neither” option. That option is not available to you. There is no “neither”. There is Manchin, or part of the GOP machine.
Is it crappy that this is where things are? For sure. Should it be different? Yes. It will take a lot of work to make it different, and that work does not start by handing that seat to a Republican because Manchin sucks. In fact, that will prevent the work from being done.
Triage. Prioritize. You are trying to get to a point where you will have the breathing room to do real work: to try and bring the landscape up to where you can have better options than Manchin. If a Republican takes that seat, YOU WILL BE FURTHER FROM THAT PLACE.
Voting Manchin in DOES NOT MEAN you’re saying “I approve of everything they do and think shit is solved if Manchin gets elected”. You can (and SHOULD) vote Manchin in AND THEN KEEP PUSHING.
But in this mid-term you have two choices. One of them adds strength to the GOP machine that is a problem. One of them doesn’t.
One of them means your bigger project of Changing Things stops dead in the water or worse, gets pushed backwards. One means it doesn’t, even if it doesn’t help.
That’s a no-brainer.
Please do not let Evil win because Good is too effing stupid to be able to set up a long-term ongoing strategy to effect our goals.
Vote for the fucking LESSER of two bad choices instead of sitting back and letting the WORSE of the two win control. Vote for Manchin, and then write to him and let him know he is fucking ON REPORT. Call his office and tell him how disgusted you are with him and how close you came to voting for his opponent and if he doesn’t shape up (spoiler: he won’t) that next time, you will.
Also, let’s remember that voting against Manchin is to vote to KEEP Mitch McConnell as the senate majority leader.
im going on the record to state that stories which position seelie-unseelie/summer-winter/etc court dynamics as inherently oppositional forces of good and evil are all written by COWARDS
face it!! you want to confine the fae to your narrow human narratives of heroes and villains to make yourself feel more secure in the face of the unknowable! its an understandable impulse but its a tired portrayal and one that doesnt do neither the writer or reader any favors!!!!
coming back to this because im in that kinda mood
summer courts being always bright and lively and symbolized by happy sunny shiny flowery things only and winter courts being dark and attached to symbols of evil/death is so so Weak
winter is a season of cold and dark but it can also be associated with the clean beauty of fresh snow, the brightness of a full winter moon on a cloudless night, preservation, sleep/restfulness, peaceful quiet, winter festivities and the coziness of coming in from the cold
summer is a light and warmth but there’s also summer storms, heatwaves/wildfires/drought as symbols of ferocity and mercilessness, the eeriness of heat mirages, abundance of insects, the sun as not only a symbol of warmth and nourishment but one of harsh unrelenting conditions
a well-made court dichotomy should allow both sides to have “good” and “bad” traits by human standards (and tbh im more in favor of both courts being equally sinister to human perception because thats how i see fae in general) and opposition between the two should never stem from the idea that one side is just “Evil”
also like can’t we just be done with light = good and dark = bad imagery in fantasy. like come on.
And don’t just flip them! Summer is ‘pretty but eeeevil’ with winter as ‘ugly but goood’ is Also Bad!
All Fae Are Unknowably Sinister And Occasionally Surprisingly Benevolent 2018
One time my five year old sister and I went in a hike in the woods and I told her “now if we come across a bear in here, I will throw myself in front of it and you run away!” And she looked me dead in the eye and said “No sorry I called it.” I was like, “what? You want to die? You’re five!” She just looked into the abyss and said, “I have been here too long.” And honestly? Big Mood.
hey it’s october so i just thought i’d let you guys know i’ll never post jump scares and am extremely anti-screamer or anything else along those lines. i hope you’re all ok and stay safe this month
feel free to rb this as much as you want! just because it’s tagged with “personal” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell your followers this too. let people know you have a safe blog!
It’d be really cool if you could see your stats (like dexterity, intelligence, hp, stuff like that) like you can in an RPG, along with things like your skill tree and level
It would give me incentive to work on my talents, I think.
And is a complete game with no missing elements. The DLC is only additional content that is separate from the main game, and doesnt lock you out of any content for not owning it.
Even the preorder bonuses weren’t exclusive, you could just unlock them sooner.
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