Thread by @drvolts

I hope everyone saw this story about Manchin's opposition to paid leave. In particular, these paragraphs. When I first read them they made me so angry I thought I might pass out. washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021…

That excerpt makes one thing very, very clear: Manchin's objections to the programs in the BBB are not based on any empirical evidence or coherent theory of government. What he has is a set of reactionary instincts, gut reactions common to old conservative white men.

He worries some poor person somewhere might cheat the program, get something they don't deserve. Can't have that.

He worries giving people benefits makes them lazy so he wants to make them work for it. Work... for a *paid leave program* ... for working people. 🙃

He worries we "can't afford it," even though everything in the bill is paid for. He worries "entitlements are running out of money."

These are not based on any evidence or analysis. They're just Things Old White Guys Say. It's like a game of conservative mad libs.

On the basis of these "irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas" (as Trilling put it), Manchin is willing to tell every single one of his female colleagues, who have come pleading to him one after the other, to fuck off. He knows better.

Gillibrand, Murray, even Sinema -- there isn't a single woman among Manchin's colleagues who isn't smarter than him and more in touch with the struggles of working parents. They've done the homework; they know what they're talking about. He hasn't, and doesn't.

He's just a vain, arrogant, rich old white guy who surrounds himself with other vain, arrogant, rich old white guys. They all overestimate their own intellect & abilities. And apparently they're still the pinhole through which all policy must pass. This country is so fucked.