Quite a few Democrats have been complaining about Senators Joe Manchin and Kyisten Sinema for their refusal to go along with eliminating the filibuster.
They say the two senators might as well admit they’re Republicans and switch over.
I have just one thing to say to these people.
“Are you insane?”
If either the senator from West Virginia or the one from Arizona decides to vote with the Republicans, the Senate immediately goes down the drain. We go from a 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties to a 51-49 or 52-48 Senate controlled by Mitch McConnell.
Forget bills failing to reach a 60-vote threshold, bills McConnell doesn’t like will never even make it to the floor.
Forget filling vacancies on courts, unless you want to nominate more Kavanaughs and Barretts.
It’s understandable that Democrats are impatient to right some of the wrongs Republicans have inflicted on the country, but when you’ve just managed to step back from the abyss, you don’t immediately floor the accelerator.
You work slowly and do what can be done to improve things. You build toward midterm elections and hope to gain seats. Then you build toward 2024 and hope you can work effectively enough to expose Republicans for what they are.
And you accept that Manchin and Sinema are with you when it matters, and they give you two Senate seats in states that usually elect Republicans.
Something is better than nothing.
It really is.