The “I Don’t Want To Think About” School Of Politics

Much has already been written and said about Senator Joe Manchin’s 9/2/2021 Wall Street Journal op-ed “Why I Won’t Support Spending Another $3.5 Trillion.” The article is Manchin’s explanation as to why he won’t vote for Biden’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure plan— and it’s just as repetitive, nonsensical, and time wasting as anything Joe Manchin has ever written.

One think that is particularly striking is that Manchin doesn’t even seem to know what’s in the — as he constantly calls — $3.5 trillion bill. He doesn’t cite anything in the bill he actually opposes, instead, he just argues that the federal government already has too high of a national debt and advocates for a pause on spending until we get it under control. However, Machin seems to have a very limited understanding of what the goals of Biden’s plan actually are. At one point in the op-ed, he states:

Inflation continues to rise and is bleeding the value of Americans’ wages and income. More than 10.1 million jobs remain open. Our economy, as the Biden administration has correctly pointed out, has reached record levels of quarterly growth. This positive economic reality makes clear that the purpose of the proposed $3.5 trillion in new spending isn’t to solve urgent problems, but to re-envision America’s social policies.