For the first time in the history of the United States, The Speaker of the House of Representatives has been ousted. At this point, that fact has been old news for weeks now, although members are still rushing to find someone with enough support to take over.
Currently, the man who has been running in Kevin McCarthy’s old shoes is Speaker Pro tempore Patrick McHenry, a republican representing North Carolina. There have been three votes so far, including a nomination for representative Jim Jordan from Ohio, although three times in a row he has fallen short of the needed votes to win. Scott McFarlane, CBS news correspondent said, “[They] can’t seem to vote anybody back in.” A statement that became more and more accurate as vote after vote took place.
At first glance, the race for the newly vacant seat seemed as though Steve Scalise, a republican from Louisiana was in for the win, as Jordan was coming in from behind. Scalise dropped out of the race on Thursday, October 12. In response to this Representative Anna Paulina Luna said, “we need someone who can unite the party, right now there is no candidate that has 217 [votes.]” As reported by CNN Politics. They wrote, “The withdrawal was as shocking as it was predictable.” Scalise had announced his decision, although he was ahead of Jim Jordan in the vote.
What this struggle within congress represents is a gridlock deep enough that it has divided a single party, to the point where they can’t make a decision, in a time where Americans might need it most. As the Israeli Palestinian conflict continues to fumble downhill, soaked in the blood of both innocent people, and the guilty alike, the US House of Representatives is being distracted by their own inner squabbles.
Not coming together to solve this issue, created by Republicans, but shared by all members of the House, “Democrats could have saved McCarthy, but after considering it, decided that they couldn’t help Republicans solve their own problems.” Reporters from Reuters wrote. Thus carrying a mindset of sibling rivalry, leaving the floor a mess, as they take their time choosing a leader.
What this all points to is that just like the Federal government has been for years, is a circus parade of state representatives modeling for their own means, rather than serving for their constituents. Although, with republicans taking a new majority in the last midterms, then not even a year later, ousting their Speaker, because of rivalries within the party, for the first time in history marks a new low.
Who is left in the backwash of their own issues? The voters who put them there, in faith that something would have been done for them. Although there are people there, who strive to do well by their constituents, the most depressing part is that those who do, are overtaken by a majority who seem as though they are more concerned with inner chamber conflicts, then actually the issues that their citizens are dealing with.
