I am not a fan of either of the major parties in the United States. If I could have my wish we would stray from the two-party system and move more towards having 5 or 6 major parties... perhaps even more. Sure, they exist in some sense like in the Green and Libertarian party, but joining these movements all but guarantees defeat for the candidate and I wonder why they even bother continuing to try to run for major offices. They aren't going to win.
Republicans and Democrats are more like big gangs then they are political parties and basically everyone involved in either of these parties has two options: Tow the line of the party or get eliminated from office.
There are exceptions though and I think that Joe Manchin is one of them.
In case you don't know. Joe Manchin is a senator for West Virginia, which is a deeply conservative state that always votes dramatically Republican in presidential elections. He also just happens to be a Democrat which is something that should be considered amazing considering the state that he is representing. West Virginia could be considered to be one of the most conservative states in America and at least for Presidential elections, the Democrat candidates don't even bother devoting much in the way of resources to the state because they know that it doesn't matter how much money they spend there, they are not going to win.
This is something that keeps Manchin in check, or so I believe. He can't vote with any ol' crazy Democrat notion that comes along because his state will turn on him and vote him out if he does. Instead he does something that would be wonderful if all senators did it: He represents the interests of the people that he was voted in by.
Isn't that amazing? Imagine that? Actually thinking for yourself and voting in a manner that actually represents the interests of the people that voted for you! What a novel concept!
Joe Doesn't do what his party tells him to do and doesn't go along with whatever someone else says just because there is a (D) next to their name. This is particularly true with recent votes against Biden suggested mandates and proposed legislature. This angers the Democrat party but makes his constituents very happy. In fact, in a year where it looks like almost all approval ratings of Democrats is dropping like a hot potato, Manchin's approval rating is up 17%, the highest of any Senator in the nation.
Now I think it would be pretty easy to suggest that Manchin is simply looking out for himself when he makes his decisions and simply distancing himself from what has become a very unpopular party outside of die-hards that are going to vote blue no matter what. Getting voted out of office as a Democrat in West Virginia is a very easy thing to accomplish, so he could just be pandering while apologizing behind the scenes to his fellow Democrats. There's no way we can ever actually know.
In the meantime, I think that since we are probably never going to get truly neutral Senators or Congressmen we should applaud the people that are actually thinking for themselves and representing the interests of their people. Now if we could just get the other 49 to do that, we might actually end up with politics that actually accomplished something every now and then.