Charles Bastille
1 min readApr 3, 2021

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I’m very real. And realistic.

He barely has a 50–50 majority in the Senate. Some of those 50 on the Democratic side are basically Republicans dressed as Democrats.

Manchin isn’t the only one he has to worry about. Even eliminating the filibuster won’t guarantee much. It was a miracle that the covid relief bill got done.

Despite the political realities, these proposals are still more far reaching than anything since FDR’s New Deal (spending-wise, they are more extensive). They’re far better than anything any president has proposed in more than a half century.

We need to get behind them and get them passed. All our energy needs to be behind that effort. Progressive legislators have very little time to seize the momentum.

Failure will bring exactly what you fear. Failure is on the horizon because not enough progressives care more about passing the bill than making a point.

If the infrastructure bill passes, it will create momentum to build on to demonstrate that government spending works.

Then, we can do more.

And as an old guy I can’t afford $900 a month for health care insurance, which means if I go to the hospital you’re paying for it. So nobody needs to tell me that is what Biden needs to do next. But I’m willing to wait, and sacrifice a little for young people, if this infrastructure bill helps build progressive momentum.

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Charles Bastille
Charles Bastille

Written by Charles Bastille

Author of MagicLand & Psalm of Vampires. Join me on my Substack at https://www.ruminato.com/. All stories © 2020-24 by Charles Bastille

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