Kevin the House Elf?

One thing that is a sort of silver lining of all this political farce going on (and that has been going on for a few years now) is that the average citizen is getting a crash course in civics and governance. I loved learning about those things in high school, but to be honest, freshman year is a long, long time ago. I'm pretty sure we didn't cover subjects like "what to do with the perpetrators of a coup at the Capitol" though. The fact that the members of the House who hold the slimmest of margins can't decide who gets to lead their merry band of sycophants, weasels, and election deniers is a sad commentary on how, when a good idea like Democracy gets manipulated to benefit a few underhanded miscreants, it all comes to a screeching, messy halt.

So, in this week's Lesson in How This Stuff is Supposed to Work: the fact that the Speaker of the House does not have to come from the party with a majority, and that the Speaker does not even have to be a sitting Member of the House, is interesting. The role is an important one, as the person with the title gets to set rules and the agenda, and is second in line for the Presidency. At the moment, we are without an unbroken succession in place, the new Representatives are cooling their heels, and not one damned thing is getting done. 

Surprised? Nope. Annoyed--getting there. They could arrive at a new leader by this evening (after six failed votes yesterday); I hope that they do not sell us to the highest bidder. It was already embarrassing to watch all the "concessions" McCarthy was willing to agree to; they got him to look like a suck up and a toady, then still denied his bid very publicly. He looks like some Congressional house elf-- someone give Kevin a sock, please?

Keep watching,

C