Letter to Senator Joe Manchin

Senator Joe Manchin

I am furious at Senator Manchin for his declared intention to vote no on the Build Back Better bill. I have been collecting nasty words to call him. In the end, however, I used only a few words on my list and struck a somewhat conciliatory tone in the message I sent to him this morning. (Remember the “more flies with honey” saying.) Here is the letter I sent the senator with the subject line “Build Back Better Bill”:

Like many moderate and liberal Democrats, I am disappointed and angry with your apparent desire to sabotage Democratic prospects in 2022 and 2024. You may, in fact, have assured the downfall of our democratic Republic. You appear to be feckless, callous, self-serving, ignorant, nasty, and duplicitous. But it is not too late to show that you are better than you seem. Please coöperate with President Biden and your Democratic colleagues in the Senate for the sake of the nation and its people.

Here is the list of words I didn’t use:

• Faithless
• Unpredictable
• Hypocritical
• Solipsistic
• Perfidious
• Shameful

At some point, I decided that my list was long enough, and I stopped searching for additions to it.

I did not suggest that the senator should burn in hell. The thought crossed my mind.