Where the heck is the so-called problem solvers caucus? Can’t they find 217 people to vote for a non-idiot speaker? What’s the point of having power if you don’t/can’t/refuse to use it for something other than holding on to partisan power? Do you like being seen as just human hamsters on the running wheel? The speaker needs to preside over the House, run the proceedings without brawls, and be prepared to act as president if needed. If a state as partisan as Texas can find people from both parties to nominate and vote for a speaker of the Texas House, surely there are 217 people in the US House who give enough of a damn about this country to climb out of their partisan pigpens to do the same. What the hell is wrong with you people? (Sorry Deece--not aimed at your readers. I’m just incredibly frustrated watching these idiots run around like chickens with their heads cut off.)
Your comment is spot on, Patricia. And you hit the jackpot with your insight that, despite often virulent partisanship in the electorate, the Texas House has a tradition, going back almost 30 years, of power-sharing between Democrats and Republicans. Unquestionably the Overton Window has shifted far to the right during that time, but the power sharing has worked to temper the GOP's worst efforts.
The U.S. Conress, on the other hand, is organized on a "winner-take-all" basis, and the policy struggles tend to happen within the caucuses (Blue Dogs, Main Street Republicans, etc.) The current GOP, unfortunately, has no interest in policy, and so their battles are identitarian — who is a REAL Republican, and the arbiter of that is a deranged would-be authoritarian named Donald Trump.
Thank you Deece for your expertise!!
Thank you for your readership and support, Maria!
Where the heck is the so-called problem solvers caucus? Can’t they find 217 people to vote for a non-idiot speaker? What’s the point of having power if you don’t/can’t/refuse to use it for something other than holding on to partisan power? Do you like being seen as just human hamsters on the running wheel? The speaker needs to preside over the House, run the proceedings without brawls, and be prepared to act as president if needed. If a state as partisan as Texas can find people from both parties to nominate and vote for a speaker of the Texas House, surely there are 217 people in the US House who give enough of a damn about this country to climb out of their partisan pigpens to do the same. What the hell is wrong with you people? (Sorry Deece--not aimed at your readers. I’m just incredibly frustrated watching these idiots run around like chickens with their heads cut off.)
Your comment is spot on, Patricia. And you hit the jackpot with your insight that, despite often virulent partisanship in the electorate, the Texas House has a tradition, going back almost 30 years, of power-sharing between Democrats and Republicans. Unquestionably the Overton Window has shifted far to the right during that time, but the power sharing has worked to temper the GOP's worst efforts.
The U.S. Conress, on the other hand, is organized on a "winner-take-all" basis, and the policy struggles tend to happen within the caucuses (Blue Dogs, Main Street Republicans, etc.) The current GOP, unfortunately, has no interest in policy, and so their battles are identitarian — who is a REAL Republican, and the arbiter of that is a deranged would-be authoritarian named Donald Trump.