Do we vote for the person anymore?
Or, as in the Krysten Sinema case, people were voting for the party.
I saw the news today. I am trying my best not to do a Beatles impersonation here. Those that are experiencing “a Day in the Life” will get it. Alright, time to move on. So, the news is that Krysten Sinema is stepping away from the Democratic Party to become an Independent. I think it is excellent, personally. But hey, that is just me. Before diving deep into this, let me see some of the reactions.
Someone threw this out there, “I think that if you run for one party and are elected, then you switch, you should have to step down.” Hmmm, my question is, why? Isn’t she the same person that Arizonians voted for? Oh, she was only good enough for Arizona if she was in the blue party. Otherwise, she is trash? That is the way I read that comment. So much for the best candidate idea there. Definitely a party over everything else complex. That is what is wrong with our country.
Ok, I will dive in with some other people. Keith Olbermann took to Twitter to say, “you are ethically unfit to continue serving as a United States Senator-manipulative, deceptive, messianic, without principles. I urge you to resign your office immediately.” [1] Wow, Keith, maybe you should stick to sports commentary. If the wild people in the Democratic party that chased Senator Sinema to the restrooms in an effort to sway here didn’t deter her, then I think your words from New York are purely meaningless. Let’s not forget that incident, and not a single prominent Democrat stood up for her. Hmmm, might be why she isn’t in your fancy, schmancy ivory tower party anymore. I’m just saying.
Oh, he wasn’t the only one not particularly happy with this. Brittany Packnett Cunningham let us know that this rained on the Democrat’s parade. “Krysten Sinema switched to being an independent because she was never really a Dem and couldn’t survive an Arizona Primary. She also waited until after the GA runoffs, so the Dems can’t celebrate 51 anymore. None of this is surprising, but it is confirmation that she is the worst.” [2] Bitter, are we? It would seem so. Who cares if Sinema is her own person, it rained on our big parade (sniffles), and we need a pity party. So it seems.
So maybe we should just see what Senator Sinema had to say about this. “When I ran for the U.S. House and the Senate, I promised Arizonians something different. I pledged to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama.” [3] This doesn’t seem like the person Olbermann described. Sinema sounds like a rational political official that understands her job. It seems like Arizona picked exactly the right person.
The outraged people, predominately the Democrats, have no one but themselves to blame. I will give you reasons why. They picketed outside her door constantly in bullying efforts to try to sway her instead of listening to her reasoning. Isn’t America supposed to, not like bullying? I am just asking for a friend here. Heck, as I said before, they chased her in a public bathroom to berate and humiliate her. All while the current President snickered about it. Instead of standing up and saying that it is not right. I don’t see anyone chasing Joe in the bathroom. I would also venture to say that if they chased AOC, Nancy, Maxine, or Chuck in the bathroom, you could be assured that there would have been countless prominent Democrats speaking out on this. Heck, Liz Warren would still be talking about it. The President did not once come to the border of Arizona and let Sinema walk him down the challenges she has. That tells me they never considered Sinema to be part of their party. So what I am seeing, why would she stay in this beloved party??? I mean, honestly, someone tell me. The way they treated her. I wouldn’t want my enemy treated that way. It seems karma came out and just throat-punched the Democratic Party.
I say good for her. Way to go, girl. You did what was best for you and your state. Sinema was never one that was controlled by the party leadership. Isn’t that how it is supposed to be? Let’s get into this psyche that America has regarding this.
We have become a country that forgot we vote for the best person, not the party. She is still the same person. We have become a country where the majority of America is more loyal to a political party than they are to their football team, their family, or even their state or country. I find that flat-out despicable. We have become a country that is offended when someone makes their own decision and says a party isn’t for them, but instead, the freedom of choice is. Instead of blue and red, maybe being a bit more purple would benefit us all.
Now for the final irony of all of this, and this is really good. Sinema didn’t want to be a puppet of the Democratic Party, so she stepped away. You know she could have been just one of those 51 pawns. Instead, she catapulted herself as the most powerful Senator in Washington. Because unless they want the VP blundering in, every time they need a vote, they are going to need Senator Sinema. She holds all the cards and what pisses the Democrats off is they have no control over here.
America deserves better than this petty party politics. The person over a party. The country over any party. Almost anything over party. Thanks to Sinema, America did dang good today.
The Vet
[1] (Clark, 2022)
[2] (Clark, 2022)
[3] (V, 2022)
Clark, J. (2022, December 9). Liberal media, Dems erupt over Sinema leaving Democratic Party: ‘Still great at being the f — ing worst’. Retrieved from Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/media/liberal-media-dems-erupt-over-sinema-leaving-democratic-party-still-great-being-f-ing-worst
V, S. K. (2022, December 9). Sinema’s decision to quit the Democratic Party jolts Arizona 2024 Senate race. Retrieved from NBC News: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/sinema-s-decision-to-quit-the-democratic-party-jolts-arizona-2024-senate-race/ar-AA1563Jd?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=632f5672b3bb474aa278823d006d166e
