Far too much Ink is spilt on the Democratic parties relationship with Joe Manchin.
But really, we should just ignore him. Sometimes he votes with us, sometimes he votes against us. We can’t change that, but we can do is continue to strategize in ways that grows the influence of the Democratic party.
We need to stop thinking as a party in terms of now, and start thinking in terms of 10 years from now. It’s not about the party we have, it’s about the party we want to build. There are three ways to think about how we should approach politics, and the amount of time we spend on them should be the reverse that we do.
- General Strategy means growing the Democratic party. Having more senators and congresspeople aligned with Democrats in the future, and defining the platform that you want those politicians aligned with. We should work on.
- Specific Strategy is how the Republicans were able to get a judiciary that will dismantle Roe V. Wade. It is important, but not as important as all they work they did to elect local politicians and get more of their voices in Congress.
- Tactics This seems to be where everyone wants to spend their energy. How do we strong-arm Joe Manchin into getting us what we want. But really, it’s active elected politicians who should be spending their time on tactics. There can be some effective tactical victories, like McCain voting down the Obamacare repeal. But these are limited and we can’t count on them.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Ignore Joe Manchin, he’s not the crucial swing vote, he’s just one of not enough Democractic senators in congress.
