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The Roots of Dysfunction?
I was frustrated by the progress to elect the new Republican Speaker of the House.
It seemed to me that the process was cumbersome and chaotic and long. “What the hell….” I yelled at C-Span a few times.
It felt incomprehensible that twenty (20!!!) participants could hold 202 sensible people hostage. The 202 could and did make a decision! In my opinion, the twenty holdouts behaved like 3-year-olds. They stymied the process. “You’re not the boss of me!” they were saying. “I’m taking my vote, and you can’t have it”. They were not playing by the rules. They didn’t seem to budge, offered no compromise, and said “you can’t make me”.
And so it went, vote after vote after vote.
Hakeem Jefferies, like the former Speaker, appeared to have his Party in line. They knew how to play nice with each other. They followed established rules: all in lockstep. They did not waver … through every one of fifteen votes!! The media agreed; The Democrats had it together. The Republicans were in chaos; Bring your popcorn and settle in for the preposterous show, a spiteful display of childishness on television right in front of the world.
But after it was over and Kevin McCarthy was elected, I took some time to reflect and review what really happened. I did my best to block memories of the talking-heads “reporting” their…
