Dakota Beacon

As we lurch into 2023, the House of Representatives provides an interesting question:  Who will become our next Speaker of the House?  

Everyone figured it would be business as usual, with establishment hair-do Kevin McCarthy taking up his position in a matter-of-fact sort of manner.  In fact, before the vote was called, he had the effrontery to have his things all moved into the Speaker’s office.  Of course, this was intended as show biz to intimidate any possible strays getting out of the herd.  If so, it was not entirely successful.

Yesterday, despite the heavy-handed interference of private citizens Donald Trump and Karl Rove, there were voices of dissent raised in the hallowed halls.  Now, we should all recognize that as American citizens, Trump and Rove, just like the rest of us, have every right to voice an opinion, however absurd.  That’s part of the deal.  But neither of them has ever been a member of Congress, so they are, like most of us, outsiders.  One Member of Congress, however, had other ideas.  

Florida Congressman Matt Goetz seized the moment.  Instead polishing the loafers of Mr. McCarthy, he stood up and actually asked the members for a true vote.  He made an excellent case for his choice, Jim Jordan.  His first choice, Biggs, did not gain sufficient traction, but Jordan managed to capture 20 votes by the third round of voting.  McCarthy, stunningly, lost three consecutive votes, the most recent to a Democrat.  This, of course, sent RINOs like Sean Hannity into fits of frothing at the mouth, castigating any who would dare oppose the guy anointed by the Romney faction.  (When will people finally catch on that Hannity has never been a friend of conservatives?)  Hannity’s pompous assertion that an open and honest process for electing a Speaker, rather than letting him do it for us, is a “clown show” should convince us of that, at least.  Another phony “conservative”  Mark Levin (whose promotion of a constitutional convention a couple of years ago should have consigned him to the nearest dumpster) also weighed in, hysterically scolding these crazy congressmen who actually wanted to hold a real vote on this matter.  

Maybe it is a good time to review the position of Speaker of the House.  It is the most important position in our entire federal system’s legislative branch.  The Speaker is third in line for the presidency.   Should anything prevent the President or the Vice President from exercising the powers of the Presidency, it would be up to the Speaker of the House.  It’s not just some backroom deal.  It is and it should be front stage center.  When Goetz proposed two reasonable conservative choices, he was not grandstanding, he was calling for Congress to take its responsibilities seriously.

The framers of our Constitution intended that the House should most closely reflect the wishes and beliefs of the people.  That’s one reason it is large and diverse, even within a given state.  The Speaker is supposed to be elected by the Members of Congress, not appointed by news media or would-be kingmakers like Trump or Rove or Romney.  The Speaker is supposed to reflect the will and beliefs of the Members of Congress as they reflect the wishes of their constituents.  There was no plan to have some kind of deal-making, arm-twisting, bartering Slick Willy slide into the position, moving his family photos and personal effects into the Speaker’s office before a vote was taken.  

As if to underscore the corruption of our system and throw it in our faces, President* Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell decided this would be a good time to show their solidarity in passing the insulting and ominous Omnibus Bill, a cool bit of racketeering whereby the cycle of corruption can continue to whirl around, magically spinning our hard-earned tax dollars into Democrat donations by the miracle of war-mongering in the Ukraine.  But that’s for another day (soon).  In the meantime, there is no Speaker elected.  Today’s the Big Day, presumably.  McCarthy will have had a long night, threatening, wheedling, trying to buy or otherwise coerce the votes he needs.  

He may well succeed, but he has lost the respect of Congress as well as most of the American people who were watching.  When you need to bring out junior Congressmen, media celebrities with no standing at all, and end up crawling around from one to another congressman, begging, all night, you have lost whether you manage to come up with the votes or not.  It is difficult to get rid of a lousy Speaker.  Even Democrats can’t usually do it (which is why we have lived in peril for so long of senile souse Nancy Pelosi climbing into the Presidency), and they don’t have Karl Rove and Sean Hannity to cope with.  It can be done, however.  And there are the bleaching bones of John Boehner and Newt Gingrich lying out there to prove it.  

I, for one, am hoping that McCarthy will actually be gone physically from Congress in two years, not to mention, be refused a shot at the Speakership.  This is not a job for some sleazy wheeler-dealer or backroom extortion artist.  It is one of our highest offices and it deserves a vote without fear of recrimination or anticipation of rewards for votes.  More power to Matt Goetz, who has at least proven he is not afraid to speak up and stake out a position as a conservative who, at least today, will not spend our money when we don’t have it, will not condone the erosion of our Bill of Rights, will not countenance the erasure of our borders.  This is what our founders and framers intended.  

Perhaps the only way to end this with dignity is for McCarthy to stand up and give his whole-hearted support to another, perhaps Jim Jordan.