Dave's Daily Dose, Christmas Eve Eve Eve Edition
Muccigrosso’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can adequately be explained by well-intentioned ignorance that has been cultivated through motivated reasoning in service of selfish comfort.”
Strong Towns had a great point last week: “Be a participant, not a pawn.”
When I look at my social media feeds, all I see are streams of people outraged by the latest political news. For some, that’s enough. They get all exercised about their pet issues, and they consider it a day well fought.
But for me, it was after about 15 years of the news just… never stopping… that I just gave up. The news never stops. The combat never stops.
If you want them, the narratives are always there for you to pick up. That’s what’s so seductive about them. They’re easy. But don’t kid yourself that you’re changing anything. If you’re playing someone else’s game, the best most of us can ever aspire to is to be the best pawn on the board.
The ones who make real change are those who make the game. If you want to win, if you want to make change, focus on understanding the game, and on understanding the game that comes next. Don’t be someone else’s pawn.So, all of that was to get to today’s moral: Don’t get all worked up about Joe Manchin and BBB. The Democrats will either save it, or they won’t. They’ll probably still lose the midterm, and Trump will probably still attempt to steal the 2024 election.
Joe Manchin isn’t evil. He’s not any more corrupt than most of the rest of the Senate. He isn’t heartlessly ruining YOUR Christmas by nuking the CTC — for those who were receiving it and for whom the lack of it was the most proximal cause of their Christmas being ruined this year, it’s merely the latest in a tragically long line of factors that got them to this point. Blaming Joe Manchin at this late stage of the game is like blaming Santa for not being real.
He is just a man. He’s a player, and a pawn.
If you’re really that upset, play him back. Really. Go. Play. Him. Run for office. Complain to his office. Be a participant. But don’t imagine that whining on social media and calling him everything BUT a child of God, is going to do anything.