A New Independent Movement Could Reshape Washington

0:00 Speaker 1 Wednesday night. Well with us today is the United States Senator Joe Manchin from the great state of West Virginia, a common sense Democrat, and we had a big primary last night and while Senator Mansion, it looks like some common sense has finally hit some of our states.

0:19 Speaker 2 Well, first of all, John, I’m a common sense independent, like seven percent of the largest class of voting people in America, forty seven percent of us, and they’re disenfranchised. We have no say whatsoever except they all need our vote to get elected. And finally, the Democrats last night, the Democrats that we’ve known before have stood up and

0:39 says we’re not going that far left. That makes no sense at all. So hooray for them.

0:45 Speaker 1 Well, you’re absolutely correct. I mean, talk about all the you know, I had a former Vice President, Mike Penson in the office last week and we talked, and you know what he said. He said that some Republicans have lost their way and a little bit off, but the Democrats have completely lost their minds.

1:10 Speaker 2 And so I mean, here’s the problem that both yes, go ahead, both have had this, John, here’s the problem. Both parties have been so successful of being so strong in capturing the process of how we elect people in America.

1:25 There’s no competition anymore because they want to close down. They don’t want people to vote in their primaries unless you’re a Republican or a Democrat. That’s what they wished for. Well guess what they got what they wished for. And the zealous, the advocates, the people with the enthusiasm, which we call them the DSA, now the Democrats Socialists of America,

1:43 they were able to say, fine, we’ll play out of your paybook. We’ll say we’re a Democrat, and we will activate and get more people to come out in the primary because you all have basically forwarded down people even coming less than twenty percent of the people that are eligible to vote in primaries or even showing up. So

2:00 they were able to control it and take the Democratic Party to the far left. They took the Republican Party to the far right, which is the MAGA. So the two parties, or you have the tail of wagon the dog for MAGA and the DSA. Are they going to take it back? John, They’re going to have to identify

2:16 who they are, what they stand for. The Grand Old Party would like to be grand again, and the Democrat Blue dog Cart party would like to be responsible and compassionate, but they’ve both lost their ways. No one speaking up understood.

2:30 Speaker 1 And you’re absolutely right that there’s a lot of problems. And I’ve always said extremism in any direction in our country is not good for the country.

2:42 Speaker 2 And John, here’s what we’re trying to do. Now, let me just explain what we’re trying to do. My daughter and our Heather’s the brainchild of this. She’s a mover and shaker, Heather Mansion. And we have the Americans Together dot org, which teaches people if you go on that website, Americans Together dot org, point out where you live, you’re code, whatever,

3:00 and it’ll tell you what kind of government you have and whether you’re happy with it or not, and what it takes to change it. But now we have the Independent Leadership Council. We’re trying to get proven true independence elected in the Senate and the House. And when they get elected, John, they’re going to be able to go

3:18 to Washington and they are committed not to caucus with either side, so they won’t be able to say that’s a Democrat or a Republican. They’re just an independent. Until they get here, they’re going to remain an independent and make the parties come to them with reasonable ideas before they vote.

3:35 Speaker 1 Well, that sounds logical, And I hope we replaced that No Labels party that ended up failing. I mean, I haven’t seen them at all, have you? And me? And you were remembers the one time.

3:49 Speaker 2 I think, Yeah, there’s still a lot of good people involved in that, and I thank them all, and Nancy and the whole tax staff there. But the bottom line is we’re taking a direction of action by electing independence.

4:02 So our Independent Leadership Counsel is going to elect an independent who’s committed to staying an independent and John, that’s the only way I know to bring the country back. I know what it takes. When you’re in the middle and everybody’s coming at you, you better have the strength to be able to say, listen, I’m only going to

4:18 do what’s good for my country, not what’s good for your party or your party. I want to work with both parties, but I want to bring him back to the middle. And unless you have someone willing to stay in that middle and that independent and John, why is forty seven percent of the people today in America that

4:34 basically are able to vote saying that I’m independent minded, I don’t agree with either party, and the people that still unless you have just a hardcore left and right, they still aren’t happy with what’s going on. And when someone tells you all, we’re just going to waste our vote if we vote for an independent, don’t you think

4:52 you’ve already wasted it when you’re voting for Democrats and Republicans that aren’t doing anything because the party prohibits, the party demands total loyalty, total control. That’s not our founding fathers. It’s not how this country was basically designed from the beginning, Johnsonville, do you know not one word about party was ever spoken in any of the drafts of the Constitution, or

5:17 any of our members of our founding fathers even spoke about parties or political parties. The first time we heard about a political party being mentioned in history seventeen ninety six George Washington is his farewell speech as he leaves his second term as president. He said, beware of the political parties, for they can become the engines that usurp

5:40 the power from the people. And was he ever right? They have taken all the power away from the people. It’s not of the people, by the people, and forard the people. They think it’s of the party, by the party, and for the party. They’re redistricting all over the country to try to give more party strength. Everything they do

5:57 is basically for the party. They’ve stopped independence from even voting, let alone how hard it is to get on the ballot. They make it almost impossible to compete with the two party system, and we have got to break.

6:09 Speaker 1 That, John, Senator Joe Manchin, thank you so much for coming on this Wednesday, and we’ll catch up again real soon.

6:20 Speaker 2 Great to be with you, John, Thank you for what you do.