Today's House Speaker Vote Proves Democracy Is Still Alive In America.
McCarthy's to date failed bid to become House Speaker proves the Republican Party is the lone party that believes in "democracy."
By now, you have likely heard that Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker of the House to date has failed despite being elected Majority Leader and the Republicans controlling 222 seats, to the Democrats’ 213. It take 218 votes to become Speaker (assuming all elected members vote). If Republicans were “unified,” he would easily have been elected Speaker by the 222 GOP members in the newly elected Congress. Currently, Republicans appear to be more concerned with democracy than unity, and that is a good thing.
Democrats and the Media (to the extent any difference exists in the modern political era) are claiming this is a failure of the Republican Party, a demonstration that the party is in “chaos,” or some other similar indicia of failure or “disarray” on the part of the party. They are both wrong. The current battle in the Republican caucus over who should be Speaker is democracy at work. The American people should be pleased the concept is alive and well, at least in one of its two major political parties.
Part of the reason Democrats and the Media have so swiftly smeared Republicans is that while they have railed against Republicans being a threat to “democracy” during elections, it is Democrats who have increasingly failed to practice it, especially since Nancy Pelosi became Speaker a second time after the 2018 midterms. She ruled the House from the top down, rarely permitting any dissent or dissension of any kind. You did not see much “debate,” or democracy, during Ms. Pelosi’s tenure because she did not permit it. Prior to that, she, like Obama before her, built a base of support that increasingly was, and in her case, almost exclusively, uniform—no democracy was needed because everyone believed the same thing. You can admire this form of government all you wish, but you cannot call it democracy.
What occurred today with three ballots for Speaker not electing anyone is democracy. Democracy is, among other things, many different perspectives, ideas, and solutions being put forth from various perspectives and compromise producing a solution which has the support of the majority, provided, of course, that the solution is Constitutional. Understood in this manner, Americans should rejoice in the fact that, for the first time in almost a 100 years, the Speaker was not elected on the first ballot.
McCarthy failed to obtain a majority on the first ballot because 10 GOP members voted for Representative Biggs, who also had been nominated, and 9 others voted for other Republicans who had not been nominated. On the second ballot, he lost because Jim Jordan, who had been nominated instead of Representative Biggs, secured 19 votes, thereby depriving him again of the necessary 218. After a third round of voting, McCarthy’s quest failed because Representative Jordan secured one more vote, taking 20 of the votes cast, keeping McCarthy well shy of the necessary 218 votes to be Speaker. At this time, the House has adjourned and will begin voting for Speaker again tomorrow at noon.
It is sad that you will not see this perspective in too many other outlets, if at all. We have become too accustomed to our leaders being selected, and being selected with little to no dissent. In this, the trend is towards the Pelosi method, not against it. For example, Representative Hakeem Jeffries was elected minority leader last month by his party unanimously as he ran unopposed. Today, during the Speaker race, he secured 213 votes for Speaker in each of the three rounds, becoming the first Democrat leader to earn support from every single member of the caucus in fifteen years. Proving the Republican Party also is becoming less democratic, Mitch McConnell, despite losing the Senate, now is the longest serving party leader in the Senate’s history. In light of these trends, what is occurring in the House should be cheered.
One more thing to keep in mind is that those claiming the business of government cannot begin until a Speaker is elected are just gas lighting. If you need an example, look no further than Rachel Maddow:
While it is true that the new House’s business cannot begin until the Speaker is elected, the few days it will take to resolve the Speaker debate is not going to be the end of the world. As discussed above, it was a somewhat regular occurrence before 1923. Moreover, passing legislation should take weeks (if not months and years). Again, true democracy takes time and those extolling the supposed virtue of speed over substance are not promoting democracy.
If we have learned anything over the last four years of Democrat control of the House, democracy likely is the last thing they care deeply about. Let us all take a moment and try and recall when there was actual policy debates in the Country that took months and perhaps years to resolve and remember that this not only is a good thing, but something the system was designed to create. Sooner or later, likely by week’s end, Republicans will elect a Speaker. In the meantime, enjoy the democracy; there has not been much of it to go around lately.