As they'd rather stick to fiscal sanity over passing a $3.5 trillion budget, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are being derided by progressives more than usual lately, and that's saying something. Some of the takes people are sharing are particularly dumb, including and especially from people who have such a large platform.
"Look at the Senators who are making these decisions here... Manchin, less than one percent of the U.S. is what he represents. Sinema, just about two percent... and yet they hold all the power right now," @AriMelber on the clash in Congress pic.twitter.com/yP6jpyRPUW
— The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC ?? (@TheBeatWithAri) September 30, 2021
How many people live in one senator's state is irrelevant, considering it's the Senate. Each state has two senators regardless of their population. This is all laid out in the Constitution. Further, the Senate is actually more democratic than it used to be before the 17th amendment was ratified in 1913, resulting in the popular election of all senators.
For anyone who thinks the Senate is too dysfunctional and not representative today, they should check out what the official Senate website has to say about what led up to the 17th amendment:
Following the Civil War, disputes among state legislators over Senate elections resulted in numerous deadlocks, leaving some Senate seats vacant for long periods of time. The Delaware legislature reached a stalemate in 1895, taking 217 ballots over a period of 114 days. Delaware remained without representation in the U.S. Senate for two years...
It's in the U.S. House of Representatives where population matters. West Virginia is indeed a small state, which is why it only has three members in the House and Arizona has nine.
Umm that’s the entire point of the Senate. West Virginia gets the same power as California.
— Darrell (@BlackMadness317) October 1, 2021
Ari Melber wonders why we don’t live in a country where California tells everyone else what to do https://t.co/ILmi56EPbC
— Zachary Faria (@ZacharyFaria) October 1, 2021
Meanwhile, California, as the most populous state in the country, has 53 members in the House.
Thank God there’s a few people with sanity and an understanding of history. The majority of the comments on here killed my brain cells
— Chris Tolino (@ctolino) October 1, 2021
There's a difference between being supportive of the current system and understanding what the current system is. I think their point is that they were happy someone is understanding what the system actually is.
— James Ayotte (@CapacityBoost) October 1, 2021
Manchin - co-representative of one equal sovereign member of the Union
— Dan, Purveyor of Balderdash and Chicanery (@Libertybibbledy) October 1, 2021
Sinema - co-representive of one equal sovereign member of the Union
Other 98 - each co-representatives of one equal sovereign member of the Union
I frankly think your feigned ignorance is purposeful since most of the people in your audience are absolutely unaware that what you’re saying is horse shit and can easily be manipulated into thinking the US Senate is somehow “unfair”
— Joel App (@AppyJoel) October 1, 2021
Other Twitter users have pointed out that the same example could be used for smaller states, including those liberals are particularly fond of.
Since we are cherry picking population stats:
— Zach Hunter (@zhunterDC) October 1, 2021
West Virginia: 1.8 million
Delaware: 995,000 https://t.co/m78zSdjnbt
.@JohnCornyn: 9% of US
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) October 1, 2021
.@SenSanders: .2% of US
.@marcorubio: 6% of US
.@JeanneShaheen: .4% of US
Should I keep going, @AriMelber? https://t.co/zwngI5WUkx
For what it's worth, Melber is not merely the host of "The Beat with Ari Melber." He's also a graduate of Cornell University, where he got his law degree and has served as a chief legal correspondent and legal analyst for various programs and networks.
During Thursday's show, Melber spent a significant portion of the program talking about Manchin, at one point saying "we do facts around here."
Melber isn't the only one with such idiotic hot takes about Manchin, math, and the Senate. As Matt highlighted, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had to be reminded that 52 is larger than 48.
2 senators cannot be allowed to defeat what 48 senators and 210 House members want. We must stand with the working families of our country. We must combat climate change. We must delay passing the Infrastructure Bill until we pass a strong Reconciliation Bill.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 1, 2021
It's hilarious, but it's also pretty scary that Sanders has such a warped view of math when he's the one who wrote and proudly owns the $3.5 trillion budget proposal.