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John --
It took four days and 15 votes to finally
elect a Speaker of the House. C-SPAN became must-watch Friday night
TV, and political pundits reveled in sharing their hot takes for this
once-in-a-century spectacle. While it might be fun fodder for the
press and political insiders, the cessation of the people's business
by 20 elected officials of a 435-member legislative body is not “what
democracy looks like,” as some have claimed. It’s further evidence of
a completely broken system in which two entrenched parties have no
incentive to cooperate—let alone help the other govern.
Republicans chose to allow 10% of their caucus—and the most
extreme voices of their party—to completely control the Speaker’s
election, and with it, control the Speaker himself. These are the same
bad actors who choose to spend their time promoting the Big Lie and
spreading disinformation, rather than sincerely governing. Speaker
McCarthy is now both indebted to and undermined by this radical
faction who gave him the gavel.
Democrats, for their part, failed to act in good faith to find
or support a unity candidate to lead the House. Why? Because they had
no political incentive to come to the table. Instead they closed
ranks, operating in lockstep from the sidelines to highlight the chaos
of their rival party rather than even attempt to find a bipartisan
alternative.
But the
news isn’t all bad. The partisan gamesmanship in Washington is in
contrast to how state legislative bodies have managed similar
razor-thin partisan divides across the country. In Pennsylvania, the
State House has a one-seat Democratic majority, 102-101. Last week,
the deadlock was broken in their speakership election with all seven
members of GOP leadership and nine others in the caucus joining all
Democrats to elect Democratic State Rep. Mark Rozzi as House Speaker.
The 400-member New Hampshire House currently has a 201-197 Republican
majority (with two seats vacant). GOP Gov. Chris Sununu celebrated the
nearly even split as an “awesome opportunity” for cooperation. And in
Ohio, moderate Republicans and the Democratic caucus joined forces to
keep a hardline conservative from taking the Speaker’s gavel. Well
done!👏🏻
OTHER NEWS &
VIEWS
Breaking through partisan lines
in PA
A former
Philadelphia election official who received death threats for
defending the city's 2020 vote-counting against former President
Donald Trump's lies will be nominated for the top election
administration post in Pennsylvania. What makes the nomination notable
is that Al Schmidt is a Republican, and he’s been nominated by a
Democrat, Gov.-Elect Josh Shapiro. “Al Schmidt has a proven track
record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights, and
standing up to extremism—even in the face of grave threats,” Shapiro
said when announcing the nomination. It was his first Cabinet
selection to be publicly announced ahead of his Jan. 17 inauguration.
—NBC News
Kiefer:
The Alaska model for U.S. politics
“A key element in making this ‘Alaska way’
possible is a different way of voting. Last year, Alaska put into
practice a first-in-the-nation voting system of completely open
primaries and ranked-choice voting. It resulted in this red state
sending two moderates to Congress. … Bipartisanship is also evident in
the state Legislature, where Senate Republicans—despite having the
most members—have decided to start the new year in Juneau with a
majority coalition with Democrats.” —The Christian Science
Monitor
Shapiro: Gerrymandering isn’t
dead
“[T]he majority
parties in…40 states continue to approach redistricting as a political
opportunity—and in the era of big data, the resources for successful
gerrymandering have never been greater. Both parties can access
databases with all the information they need to predict voting
behavior, including every adult’s age, gender, income, race,
education, occupation, party registration, and past voting history, by
household. It’s simple to apply that data to geography-based software
to draw House districts to one party’s substantial advantage.” —Robert
Shapiro in Washington
Monthly
Ellis: Fixing the broken
system
“For more than a
decade, we have watched the increasing ineffectiveness of the
two-party system play out with the lack of civility, cooperation, and
compromise. We see it most prominently in the U.S. Congress. But the
same is occurring in many state legislatures where the will of the
public on issues—whether about sensible gun control measures, access
to health care, immigration reform, increase in the minimum wage, and
myriad others—has been derailed by special interests and extreme
voices.” —Janice Ellis in Missouri Independent
Congress can learn from state and local acts
of coalition-building, in which public officials are actually doing
what they are elected to do—work for the American people. But under
the current system, the incentives are to divide and fundraise. Until
systemic reforms open the U.S. political system to more choices and
more unifying leaders, scenarios like this will continue to play out,
and Americans will pay the price.
That’s why we’re building a new kind of
party, one where innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving are
prized above pyrrhic partisan victories. We must succeed in building
this new political home, for the sake of our future.
All the
best,
The Forward Party Team
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