Congratulations to Kevin McCarthy, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. He has achieved his life ambition, the second in line for the Presidency, and the leader of the House. It was an ugly, ugly process; fourteen excruciating roll calls where McCarthy lost by just a few votes. The \u201cradical\u201d wing of the Republican Party held McCarthy hostage, extracting more and more power from him in each round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the fourth day and the fourteenth vote he thought the \u201cdeal\u201d was done.\u00a0\u00a0He already lost much of the power accrued to the office since Republican Speaker Cannon, \u201cCzar Cannon\u201d, took charge in 1906.\u00a0\u00a0It was given away piecemeal to gain the votes of the \u201crebels\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But even then, there was one more Congressman to appease.\u00a0\u00a0It took a last minute deal, made in the hard cold light of national television, for McCarthy. He gave Matt Gaetz of Florida what he wanted.\u00a0\u00a0Gaetz was almost assaulted (a popular move among many). The nation watched the scene of one Congressman muffling another and dragging him off of the House floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the last deal was finally done, Gaetz got whatever it is he wanted, and on the fifteenth roll call, McCarthy got the oversized gavel in his hand.\u00a0\u00a0The question is:\u00a0\u00a0what is left for him to govern?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bible says that the angel Lucifer, desperate to challenge God for the throne of Heaven, was forced to choose. As Milton intoned in Paradise Lost, <\/em>Lucifer determined \u201c\u2026It\u2019s better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven<\/em>\u201d. He left to become Satan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McCarthy is no Satan: he made a different choice. He chose the \u201cthrone\u201d of the Speakership, and gave away the capacity to \u201creign\u201d anywhere. He is now beholden to the rump minority of the Republican Party that gave him the gavel, serving only at their pleasure. Should he cross their purposes, any single one of them can call to \u201cvacate the chair\u201d, and throw the House, and the Nation, back into the chaos of the past week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He gave the power to \u201cobstruct\u201d to the extremists of his Party. When the critical pieces of legislation arrive in the House, increasing the US Debt limit or passing a Federal Budget, the extremists can hold our government\u2019s function hostage. Don\u2019t be surprised if the threat of \u201cGovernment Shutdown\u201d becomes a reality more than once. (That may be a satisfying \u201cbomb\u201d to throw, but historically shutdowns have backfired on the Party that initiates them.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And if McCarthy moves to compromise, to perform the legislative task of \u201cmaking the deal\u201d, he is a single vote away from losing his gavel. <\/p>\n\n\n\nObstruction and Investigation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n