Sen. Krysten Sinema (D. Ariz.) is proving to be a pleasant surprise. When this openly bisexual, completely non-religious, former member of the Green Party won in Arizona, it was easy to assume that she’d be the Senate’s answer to the loopy socialists in the House who call themselves “the Squad.” Instead, when it comes to taxpayer money and the filibuster, Sinema has proven to be a stalwart moderate who, at least for now, is refusing to take a deep dive into the Democrat party’s 2021 madness.

Sinema’s an interesting person. She was raised as a Mormon and she claims that, for several years of her childhood, she lived in abject poverty (although her parents dispute the ‘abject’ part). Sinema left the Mormon faith as a teen and, although once married, she is now openly bisexual. She earned degrees as a social worker and a lawyer, eventually obtaining a Ph.D. in “justice studies,” which means that she’s an academic acolyte of social justice. Before she became a Democrat, she belonged to the Green Party and openly criticized capitalism.

As I said, with this record, Sinema ought to be espousing policies to the left of AOC and her ilk...except she’s not. Yes, she’s pro-abortion; yes, she wants gun control; yes, she supports the LGBTQ agenda; and, of course, she voted to impeach Trump.

However, she’s also been a roadblock to some of the more dangerous Democrat initiatives. Along with Sen. Manchin, she’s refused to vote yes on doing away with the filibuster, thereby protecting America from a packed Supreme Court and a voting reform act that would have enshrined voter fraud. She’s listened to her Arizona constituents and has voted for initiatives that will offer America some protection from criminal illegal aliens. Likewise, while she likes Obamacare in theory, she’s willing to work to protect Americans from its more onerous burdens.

Most importantly, at least for now, Sinema agrees with her constituents that America should not be forced to swallow the additional $3.5 trillion spending binge that Joe Biden wants to force on America. She and Manchin are the two Senators who are refusing to play with their party.

It’s their pushback that has led both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton to make the laughable claim that America is now subject to “minority rule.” This nonsense arises from their claiming that just two people are preventing America from moving forward when, in fact, it’s 52 people—all the Republican senators plus two Democrats—creating a true, constitutional majority.

The machinations are really confusing, but here’s the incredibly streamlined version: Both Sinema and Manchin let the Democrat leadership know that, while they back the already too expensive (in my opinion) $1.2 trillion “Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act” that is focused on traditional infrastructure, they will not support the $3.5 trillion bill that is way over a thousand pages and has everything from letting the IRS dig through your bank account every time you spend $600 to a provision imposing fines of up to $700,000 per employee on private companies that don’t force their employees to get vaccinated.

Democrats had hoped to get the $3.5 trillion bill passed through the reconciliation process, which would allow the Senate to vote yes on a straight majority vote, without risking the filibuster. (That would mean getting 50 Democrat senators on board, with Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker.) The progressive Squad, however, let Nancy Pelosi know that they’d only vote yes on the infrastructure bill if it was tied to the $3.5 trillion bill. (And you really need to hear AOC’s whacked-out explanation for her stand.)

Pelosi finally agreed to separate the two bills. Then, when Biden met with the caucus to straighten things out, he managed to blow up everything, by insisting again that the bills must be linked. That’s what happens when a party puts a man with dementia in the White House. Pelosi ended up having to cancel the vote on the pure infrastructure bill.

And that’s where we loop back to Sinema. She tweeted out an extremely angry message accusing Democrat leaders (that means you, Pelosi and Biden) of game playing and also attacked the Squad for engaging in “an ineffective stunt to gain leverage over a separate proposal.” Sinema reminded politicians that they are responsible for representing their constituents and, when it comes to Arizona, the game-playing is damaging the people who voted for her.

Canceling the U.S. House vote on the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act denies Americans millions of new good-paying jobs and hurts everyday families.

Full statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BM7hrUL3KK

— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) October 2, 2021

I know that putting one’s faith in politicians means that one is doomed to disappointment. Nevertheless, at least for now, I respect Sinema’s willingness to hold the line and speak home truths that hold her own party accountable for the ongoing madness in D.C.

Image: Kyrsten Sinema. Public domain.

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