As a general rule, if you're a sports fan, you're allowed to boo your team if they're not playing well; you're not allowed to throw objects onto the field of play that could possibly injure the players.
If you're a private citizen and you don't like the direction the country is headed, you're allowed to protest peacefully; you're not allowed to loot and burn local businesses or storm government buildings looking to overturn the results of an election that didn't go your way.
If you're a consumer, you're allowed to boycott certain businesses that don't reflect the same values as you; you're not allowed to assault the employees of those businesses.
And if you're a constituent in a district or state and you don't like the political position(s) of your particular representative or senator, you're allowed to vote that person out of office in the next election; you're not allowed to harass that representative or senator to the point of following them into a restroom and standing outside the stall berating them while you record the whole incident on your iPhone. Twitter should take down the video immediately.
To be clear, what happened to Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema the other day is unacceptable. There is no excuse for it. None! What that individual did was beneath contempt, period! And anyone who thinks otherwise isn't a progressive or a Democrat; they're a MAGA with a blue cap.
Not only was this stunt morally reprehensible, politically it was stupid. Sinema isn't up for reelection until 2024. Like it or not, Democrats are stuck with her - and her sidekick Joe Manchin - for the next three years. Pramila Jayapal can continue to insist all she wants that 96 percent of Democrats support the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better proposal; in the end, that 4 percent has the power to derail the entire agenda. If she doesn't understand that, then somebody needs to enlighten her before this ends up causing the party irrevocable harm in next year's midterms.
But before we get to that, first things first. Chuck Schumer needs to call up both Sinema and Manchin and let them know that, despite their differences on policy, they are still valued members of the caucus. And then Joe Biden needs to publicly address what happened and, in the strongest possible language, condemn it. He must make clear that there is no place in the Democratic Party for that kind of behavior. None!
I cannot stress this enough. Progressives are playing with fire if they think that either of these two senators can be intimidated or brow beaten into voting for a bill they don't like. The truth is that all that would have to happen is for Sinema or Manchin to switch parties and become Republicans and everything that Biden and the party ran on in 2020 is out the window. You think settling for half a loaf is a non-starter? Try no loaf at all. Because that's what Democrats will get if Mitch McConnell becomes majority leader.
I have had it up to here with progressives who continue to throw hissy fits because they didn't get a pony under the Christmas tree. Real legislating is about reaching consensus and compromising; not holding a trillion dollar infrastructure bill hostage because some of your members have a different world view than you. It's time for them to start acting like adults and do the people's bidding. ALL of the people, not just the ones who live on the coasts.
And if a few idiots insist on doing their Marjorie Taylor Green impersonation, remind them that they're in the wrong party.
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