Here’s a good graphic demonstrating how powerful minority rule is in our dodgy experiment in representative democracy. A wealthy conservative senator from one of the poorest states in the US has flatly announced his veto of Build Back Better. Manchin, who has almost always voted with the political right (he voted for Sessions, Barr, Gorsuch, banning abortions after 20 weeks, Kavanaugh) won his seat by a slim 19,397 margin over his Republican challenger, in an election less than half of West Virginia voters turned out for. What we Americans call a mandate.

He abruptly announced on Rupert Murdoch’s FOX network that he is tanking the popular Build Back Better Bill he has pretended to negotiate over for months. He said he cannot “in good conscience” support a bill to tackle catastrophic climate change (fossil fuel industry donors and coal barons hate this), lift children out of poverty (back to austerity, little West Virginians), create jobs for caregivers, home care options for seniors and otherwise shore up our shaky social safety net. President Manchin claims he’s concerned about inflation, and the national debt, and that poor people will only waste direct government child care payments (on drugs) if it’s given to them, that providing seniors with dental and vision care as part of the Medicare we all purchase is a slippery slope to … communism?

Then, after snarling about being called a liar and an obstructionist, he gets in his Maserati and drives to the yacht he lives on. Oh, well, at least he doesn’t own any slaves.

If the GOP manages to take back the Senate in 2022, expect this millionaire man of the people (his people) to immediately defect to the party that will immediately end the “bipartisan” filibuster.