Joe Manchin got an important message from former Congressman Tom Perriello
in a Washington Post [ [link removed] ]op-ed invoking his West Virginia dad's reminder
about political courage and honor. You'll be captivated from the first
line.
Can you give it a read below and share it [ [link removed] ]on Facebook and [ [link removed] ]on
Twitter? Then, [ [link removed] ]donate to our work elevating the voices of West
Virginians pressing Manchin to do the right thing. Thanks. -- The PCCC
Team
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OP-ED: I took a vote that cost me my seat. I know what Joe Manchin is
facing. By Tom Perriello
"Just promise you will never forget that Judgment Day is more important
than Election Day." That was the advice -- directive, really -- my father
offered when I asked about running for Congress. He was born and raised in
Dunbar, W.Va., with the deep faith in the community, the Catholic Church
and the New Deal that defined many Italian immigrant families recruited by
the coal mines or Union Carbide. My dad died a few months after seeing me
sworn in as a member of the 111th Congress in 2009, just three weeks after
he retired as a pediatrician. He had cared for so many children of every
race, faith and class that more than 1,000 people showed up for his
funeral.
When I cast one of the deciding votes to pass the Affordable Care Act that
year -- a vote many warned might cost me my seat -- I wore one of my
father’s old wool suits. He had opposed Hillary Clinton’s 1993 health-care
plan but watched regretfully as the insurance companies spread like a
cancer across his profession, choking out the space between doctor and
patient. I felt him nodding with approval from on high.
My dad liked Governor Joe Manchin and would have really loved Sen. Manchin
for his decency and determination to fight for forgotten towns and
workers. This year, the Democratic senator from West Virginia has shown
marked political courage by embracing at least the aspirations of
President Biden’s agenda to "build back better," sending a signal to
colleagues on both sides of the aisle that this is a time to unite around
solutions rather than hide in the shadow of base politics.
As his colleagues fail to answer this call, Manchin is rapidly approaching
a test of his convictions on what he must do to protect America’s historic
experiment with democracy. West Virginia became a state when its citizens
had the honor to break away from Virginia to defend our more perfect
union. Now, their senior senator may need to break traditions to defend
voting rights and the integrity of our elections. Manchin recently
indicated his inability to support the For the People Act unless
Republican senators show the courage to put democracy over party. He
stated no substantive disagreements with the reforms, which would limit
partisan gerrymandering, dark money, foreign election interference, and
corporate corruption, while adopting existing voting rights and expanded
election protections.
Defending voting rights and election integrity should not and cannot be a
partisan issue. As the Pew Research Center found, large majorities of
Americans support making it easier to vote and reducing the power of
special interests through the kinds of policies enshrined in the For the
People Act. It’s just the Republicans in Congress who refuse to support
it.
One party is attacking democracy, and that same party is blocking attempts
to protect it. Citing that as an excuse to disarm unilaterally is like
telling a farmer whose cattle are being stolen that he needs the thief’s
permission to put up cameras or hire guards. The bipartisanship Manchin
celebrates from the 1980s, at its best, represented genuine compromise.
Frankly, in this era, anything the diverse body of 50 Democratic senators
can agree on probably would have been seen as "bipartisan" back then. My
father’s family swung from JFK Republicans to Reagan Democrats, but they’d
be at a loss to understand the Republican caucus of Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (Ky.).
When I came to Congress, I represented a deep red district and dreamed of
bipartisanship, and I was proud to retain support from independent and
Republican voters and outperform the party brand by double digits. But the
one place I found no bipartisanship was on the Hill. A few months after I
was sworn in, I knew reelection the following year was a long shot. We
Democrats failed to convince Americans that we were focused on the
economy, and the quiet recovery was not being felt by fall of 2010.
Biden’s bold approach today reflects an understanding that, had we been
able to move bolder and earlier — for instance, passing health-care reform
in the summer of 2009 with a Medicare buy-in and cheaper prescription
drugs — we would have won over more moderates than by taking the perceived
"moderate" path that enabled corporate-captured senators to waste time and
water down reforms.
A decade later, I carry three lessons from my 2009 health care vote.
First, no regrets. Why ask the voters for political power if not to use it
when it matters most? I still get letters from people thanking me: Parents
whose kids are growing up with the security Obamacare provides, or
entrepreneurs able to start businesses because they no longer felt tied to
their old job for the health insurance. I have also been reminded time and
again that there is a job much better than being in Congress, and that’s
being a former member of Congress. I have devoted the past decade to
issues of justice at home and abroad dear to my heart, with a bigger staff
and free from the constant fear that an innocuous remark will be taken out
of context to become a viral attack ad.
Second, tough votes are better taken early in the election cycle than
late. The months we took debating health care did not make the bill
stronger or more popular. It just left more time for it to be demonized
and less time for the positive effects to be felt. The reforms in these
two new voting rights bills are widely popular — for instance, making
Election Day a national holiday and automatically registering eligible
voters. They’ll be even more so when voters see how easy and safe it is
for them to vote, how much harder it is for politicians to gerrymander
districts, and why corporations will have a harder time corrupting our
politics.
Manchin has taken a strong stance in favor of protecting voting rights and
election integrity. He has said he supports another important voting
rights bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, but the voting
and election protections in the For the People Act are urgently vital
complements to that legislation for addressing 21st century threats to our
democracy. Many other reforms Manchin has touted are in the 800 pages of
the For the People Act and must find their way into law.
Third, Americans are so deeply cynical about Washington that the only way
to build support from a broad, bipartisan set of voters is to err on the
side of the boldest possible reforms. Watering down reform does not
strengthen support from Republican, Democrat or independent voters — it
only fuels their cynicism. If we had taken the bolder stance on the ACA,
it would have been a winning issue by the midterms. With our democracy on
life support, this is not the time for bandages but a robust treatment to
drive a full recovery. This means not just making our elections a model
for the world again, but removing corruption’s greatest ally in
Washington, the filibuster, to do so.
My father’s adage about judgment day was really an old-fashioned case for
something lost in today’s politics: honor. Joe Manchin is justifiably
frustrated with colleagues focused more on avoiding a primary than doing
what’s right. But the reality is that even the shocking actions and images
of Jan. 6 could not catalyze a bipartisan front to defend democracy.
Manchin is principled to set such a high bar for how the Senate proceeds,
but his toughest ethical test may be how to do what is necessary when his
Republican colleagues fail to meet that bar. Let’s aim higher than
bipartisanship inside the Beltway.
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Share Tom Perriello's op-ed [ [link removed] ]on Facebook and [ [link removed] ]on Twitter. Then,
[ [link removed] ]donate to our work elevating the voices of West Virginians pressing
Manchin to do the right thing.
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