Joe Manchin is...

...imminently replaceable. So let's do that.

Joe Manchin. A Man Who Stands Firm In His Convictions

It’s great sport to pick apart yacht owner (see?) Sen. Joe Manchin (DQP-West Virginia) (oops; did it again), and I would never stand in the way of name-calling (see above).

But.

Our political system is such that people like Manchin and his colleague, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Don’tEvenKnow-Arizona) (I can’t help myself) can stand in the way of legislation that springs from their own political party, and provides services voters appear to want. Taking a step back, you can see that a senator is responsible for answering to constituents, and West Virginia and Arizona are interesting states as far as the whole blue-red discussion goes.

But.

This coming November, 469 seats — all 435 in the House, and 34 in the Senate — are up for grabs. We can focus on calling names (and on most days I’m for that), or we can get busy and get elected more leaders who will vote for the people, and not for the corporations that are funding them. Naive, I know, but has voter inaction ever served any one but those corporations?

Short of running for office yourself, there are multiple ways to turn the tide, which most definitely needs turned.

Here are a few ideas:

• Go online and check your local elections. Email the candidate you like and express interest in helping. Believe me, that candidate will put you to work.

• Find a local board or commission, and join it. We are reaping what we sowed with this whole bowling alone thing.

• Attend local meetings. Many are on Zoom and you don’t even have to get out of your jammies.

On a national level:

• Have an issue that sticks in your craw? Google what organizations are doing the most effective work and either donate or volunteer or amplify that organization’s message on social media.

• Use social media to reach out to your elected officials. An email is imminently ignorable. A tweet, not so much.

• Postcards to Voters. I have no idea how effective postcards from strangers are for individual voters, so maybe this is just a panacea to make me feel like I’m doing something, goddammit, but I’ve done this, a lot.

This is not an exhaustive list, but feel free to add your own thoughts, in the comments. I appreciate it.