ISAAC NEWTON FARRIS JR

Since instant gratification is increasingly the goal in American society, the overreaction to Republicans’ failure to immediately elect a Speaker of the U.S. House might not be noteworthy, but glimpses of a founding father’s democracy wisdom on display within the Republican democracy drama to name a Speaker, are very noteworthy!!!

Mainstream news media and Democrats have wrongly described the 15 rounds of voting to elect a new Speaker of the House as dysfunction and chaos, nothing could be further from the truth. It is true however that taking 15 rounds of voting to elect a Speaker is quite unusual. Ironically the same news media that described the 15 rounds of voting as dysfunction and chaos, in the same breath informed us that there have been 14 other instances of Speaker elections requiring multiple ballots to elect a Speaker, therefore 15 rounds of a constitutional process following constitutional procedure rules can’t be dysfunctional or chaotic.

The 15 rounds over 4 days might have been inconvenient or chaotic to or for the news media to cover, it was time-consuming, it occurred at inconvenient times, it was boring at times, it was informative at times, it was truth-telling at times, it was play-acting at times, and at all times it was a lot of dramatic acts being performed legally and according to the rules of the U.S. House. Which means it was never dysfunctional or chaotic, it was drama democracy drama playing out according to the democracy wisdom of America’s founding fathers and the rules they set forth in the American Constitution.

Whether or not you agree with the conservative politics of Republican Congressman Chip Roy he spoke democracy wisdom when he said, as part of his speech to nominate a challenger to Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy for the Speakership of the House, that it was a good thing that Republican’s democracy drama was forcing the rare requirement that all members of the U.S. House, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, must be present on the House floor at the same time to debate and then vote on an issue. That’s the same democracy wisdom that inspired the founding fathers in their design of the U.S. House and Senate.

The euphemism “The People’s House” so often used by modern-day politicians, when referring to the House, had a literal meaning to the founding fathers when they constitutionally established the House. The founding fathers intended for the U.S. House, unlike the U.S. Senate, to be a national meeting place of American citizens who are elected by their local community to express their values, opinions, desires, joys, and fears in national debates and by voting on their behalf to address various issues of the day. Since the concept of political parties that Americans know today did not exist for the founding fathers, the thoughts and intentions of the founding fathers were that every Congressperson’s allegiance would be to what was best for America and their local community, and not what was best for the political party that a Congressperson belonged to.

First among equals, founding father George Washington holds the distinction of being America’s only non-political President, refusing before, during, and after serving as America’s first President to join any political party. In his farewell address to America as President, Washington said to America that political parties must be restrained in a popularly elected government because of their tendency to distract the government from their duties, create unfounded jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms among the people, promote riots and insurrection, and provide foreign nations and interests access to the government where they can impose their will upon the country.

During the first 2 days of the Republican democracy drama when all Congresspersons were present on the House floor for the back-to-back votes to elect a Speaker, one could see glimpses of Washington’s democracy wisdom playing out in living color. The House chamber is large enough to seat all 435 members of the House but not large enough for them to avoid interacting with each other. The rare forced presence of all Congresspersons in the House chamber at the same time, for an extended amount of time over hours and days, produced some interesting interactions that validate the democracy wisdom of George Washington.

Trump impeachment manager Democrat Congressman Joe Neguse was seen in a non-confrontational conversation with Donald Trump’s die-hard defender, anti-impeachment, and election-denying Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. When asked about it on MSNBC Neguse said they were just discussing Speaker election procedure rules. Republican Congressman Don Bacon, a McCarthy backer who floated the idea of McCarthy courting Democrats for votes confirmed on the 2^nd day of Republican democracy drama that he was continuing to talk with Democrats.

But the blockbuster democracy wisdom moment, of what is democratically possible when the people’s representatives put aside their political affiliations and nonviolently dialogue with each other, was progressive titan Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comfortably speaking with far right-wing conservative titan Congressman Paul Gosar!!! Gosar is one of the people Ocasio-Cortez had said in the past made her fear for the safety of her life. Because Gosar posted a doctored anime video of him killing her. Ocasio-Cortez confirmed that she and Gosar were calmly discussing Speaker election possibilities.

The only reason these interactions occurred is that Democrats and Republicans were confined in the same room for extended days and hours. Under normal circumstances, Democrat and Republican Party membership forces Congresspersons to constantly talk negatively about members of the opposing party, while never forcing them to talk positively to or about members of the opposing party, this illustrates George Washington’s democracy wisdom on how political parties divide not unite. The fact that the American Constitution does not require the American citizen who is elected Speaker to be a member of any political party, or even be an elected member of Congress, means the other founding fathers shared Washington’s democracy wisdom regarding political parties.

Whether or not Republicans and Democrats will ever publically admit it, a glimpse of George Washington’s democracy wisdom about restricting or eliminating political parties crossed their minds after the first ballot revealed Republicans were deadlocked, that’s when the thought “is it possible for Democrats to give Republicans the votes they need to elect a Speaker?” flashed through all Republican and Democrat minds. That flashed thought was Washington’s democracy wisdom inflicting a crack in the wall of political party membership that separates Democrats and Republicans.

It was that crack in the wall that allowed Democrat Neguse and Republican Gaetz to put aside political party membership to discuss rules and procedures. It was that crack in the wall that enabled Republican Bacon to confirm that he was in search of Democrat votes to elect a Republican Speaker. And it was the democracy wisdom crack in the wall, which made it possible for a Democrat Ocasio-Cortez to hold a civil conversation with a Republican Gosar, a man who fanaticized in the past about killing her.

It’s a proven fact that if your mind can conceive it your hands can achieve it. The Republican democracy drama to elect a new Speaker forced all Democrats and Republicans, for one brief shining moment, to mentally conceive how to navigate in George Washington’s democracy wisdom world where political parties don’t exist, or if they do, they have to seek alliances outside their political party because they don’t have enough political power to operate on their own.

The 15 ballots over 4 days and many hours for Republicans to elect a Speaker has also been wrongly compared to the 2021 January 6 insurrection to overthrow the 2020 national election. Once again nothing could be further from the truth!!! On January 6, 2021, Republicans used the autocratic insurrection tools of violence, rioting, impatience, no negotiation, no compromise, no dialogue, voting to not accept the results of a legal one-person-one-vote-counted presidential election, and no attempt of reconciliation in a thankfully unsuccessful AUTOCRATIC attempt to achieve their desired outcome.

On January 6, 2023, Republicans used the democracy tools of nonviolence, negotiation, 4-day 15 ballot patience, compromise, dialogue, and a show of reconciliation after a long and arduous exercise that allowed everyone a voice and a counted vote to successfully and DEMOCRATICALLY achieve their desired outcome.

No matter how rotten or ugly one thinks the Republican 4-day 15 ballot democracy drama to elect Kevin McCarthy Speaker looked, the more important thing is it smells fresh and pretty because it was conducted according to American constitutional rules of democracy. It doesn’t matter that it took Republicans 4 days and 15 ballots to reach a democracy outcome, it took a Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and 188 years before America reached a true democracy outcome.  What matters most is Republicans reached a democracy outcome by electing the Speaker, not an autocratic insurrectionist outcome by forcing the appointment of a Speaker no one wanted or voted for.

It doesn’t matter about the quantity or quality of compromises McCarthy had to make to become Speaker because they were made based on the democratic principles of compromise. It doesn’t matter if McCarthy Republicans made a democracy deal with rebel hold-out Republicans who will create Congressional gridlock, or seek to remove him by breaking the deal at the first opportunity. Because the 15-ballot election forced both McCarthy Republicans and Democrats to conceive a plan of operation in a world of Republican deadlock. Since they both have conceived it they both can achieve it.

And it doesn’t matter that the Republican Party and the Democrat Party have so thoroughly entrenched themselves in the system of America, that achieving George Washington’s democracy wisdom of having no organized political parties in American society is impossible. Because the growth of a strong 3rd and even 4th political party would make it difficult to impossible for one political party to gain sole political control of the House or Senate. Eliminating the possibility of one-party control of the House and Senate forces all political parties to tear down their separation walls of political party membership, and build Washington’s bridges of communication, compromise, and coalition to each other in order to legally conduct the people’s business.

What does matter is:

• Through the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing voter suppression
• Through some states successfully suppressing a citizen’s vote
• Through an American President attempting to steal an American election
• Through other states attempting to decertify and steal a citizen’s legally cast vote
• Through insurrection citizens rioting in an attempt to overturn the results of the small d democratic one-person-one-vote-counted 2020 presidential election
• Through a hand full of Republican Senators joined by the majority of Republican elected Congresspersons voting not to accept the results of the small d democratic one-person-one-vote-counted 2020 presidential election
• Through the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing any one of the fifty states of America to take control of a woman’s body against her wishes if that state chooses to do so
• Through a Republican Speaker who might have had to sell his soul to become Speaker

THROUGH IT ALL democracy still reigns supreme in the greatest nation on God’s green earth, God Bless American Democracy!!!