Certainly, Manchin sold out President Biden and his Democratic Party by effectively blocking the Build Back Better Act this week. In doing so, he has undermined efforts to address climate change, committing all of us to suffer from increased severe weather events. Additionally, his refusal to support the bill means that more children will grow up in poverty, that more seniors will be forced to move from their homes into nursing facilities, that seniors will continue to be denied help for dental, hearing and vison care, and that all Americans will continue to pay more for pharmaceuticals than the rest of the world.

It is also almost certainly true that Manchin’s hands are deep in the pockets of the leaders of the fossil fuel and pharmaceutical industries. Indeed, Manchin is said to have received nearly $260,000 in corporate contributions in just the month leading up to his politically charged statement about Biden’s signature legislation on Fox News Channel.

But Manchin is not alone in blocking the Build Back Better Act. Senator Kyrsten Sinema has proven that she’s every bit as craven and greedy as Manchin. Though she doesn’t have a yacht or drive a Maserati, she has personally blocked provisions in the bill designed to lower the prices that all Americans pay for pharmaceuticals while taking political donations from big Pharma and refusing to meet with her own constituents.

And Manchin and Sinema are but two of the 52 Senators refusing to vote for BBB. They are joined in their greed and dumbassery by the entire Sedition Caucus, aka the Republican Party. A party that has long ignored the needs and wishes of the majority of Americans as it continues to pander to greedy corporations and billionaires. A party that continues to deny human-caused climate change. A party that embraces the gun cult and violent extremists. A party that has cozied up to Vladimir Putin and the world’s worst autocrats. A party that is vehemently anti-government, and therefore anti-American, to its core.

So, if the Biden administration and the Democratic majority fail to do more to level the economic playing field for ordinary working families. If they fail to provide help for those who are struggling. If they fail to pass legislation to head off the worst effects of climate change. Don’t blame them. And please don’t think that rewarding their political opponents in the midterm elections will improve your life in any way.

It won’t.

Unless you are a billionaire, an executive of a multi-national corporation, an executive of a fossil fuel company, an executive of a pharmaceutical company, or a member of the gun lobby.