Speaker McCarthy-Dissents and Concurrences // (Steven Hayward).

I’ll allow readers to indulge in a roundabout introduction because I find it useful for setting up such an uncommon occasion as a substantial disagreement between what Brother John has said here about McCarthy Question.

It is a frustrating and annoying practice for the Supreme Court to issue decisions whose summaries begin as follows (in this instance, Allegheny County V. Greater Pittsburgh ACLUin89):

“BLACKMUN,J., announced the Court’s judgment and gave the Court’s opinion with regard to Parts III, IV, V, in the Court’s opinion in which BRENNAN and MARSHALL, STEVENS and O’CONNOR joined, an opinions with respect To Parts I and II in which STEVENS joined and O’CONNOR joined, an Opinion with respect TO Part VII in which O’CONNOR joined, and an Opinion with respect To Part VI. O’CONNOR,J., filed an Opinion concurring partly and concurring with the judgment in Part II, in which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, STEVENS and O’CONNOR,JJ. joined. STEVENS, J. filed an opinion concurring and dissident in part. BRENNAN, MARSHALL, and JJ. joined. KENNEDY, J. filed an opinion concurring with the judgment in part and dissenting, in which REHNQUIST and WHITE, JJ. joined.

If you are wondering where that jumble went, the answer is yes.

My conclusions regarding the prolonged drama of Kevin McCarthy’s trek to the Speaker’s podium have some of the same convoluted character as John’s views, which I agree in part but dissent in other parts.

So I will follow the Supreme Court and state the main judgment before moving on to the important subsidiary distinctions. The 20 House Republicans (the “chaos Caucus,” “Rebel Alliance”, the “renegades”)? They were generally correct in most of their demands and in their general disposition regarding what needs to happen in the House. Even if some members were clowns, I don’t think it was a circus.

Let’s first clear up the mistakes. Some members (Gaetz, Boebert most) made it personal about McCarthy. While this is fine, they should have stated it more clearly. Although I have my doubts about McCarthy’s political integrity, it is not personal. But why “negotiate” with someone you don’t trust and won’t vote for? Many of the statements seemed to have been made in bad faith.

Another aspect is that the Rebel Alliance’s demands were made in such a way as to appear primarily as an attack against McCarthy, rather than as an attack upon the House of Representatives in its current form. The House of Representatives has had too much power concentrated within the Office of the Speaker. McCarthy or any other aspiring Speaker would love to have the concentrated power that has been granted to him in recent decades. The Rebel Alliance made a mistake by not stating that their sensible demands were not about McCarthy but about restoring the House’s deliberative and representative function. They would have been better off if they stated clearly and repeatedly that this wasn’t about Kevin McCarthy. This is about restoring the proper functions and duties of the House that Democrats have subverted and that too many GOP Speakers have failed to reverse. We will demand these changes from the next Speaker, no matter who he/she is.” It was a huge setback for their case that there was no credible or serious alternative candidate (sorry, Andy Biggs wasn’t).

Some of the demands, such as term limits (Rep. Norman’s pet demand), are not politically sensible. The demands for the ability of amendments to spending bills to be made on the floor and the possibility of a motion to remove the chair from a single member (very high chance with a close House), are a return to the way the House worked before the administrative state made it attractive for Democrats to consolidate power in the Speaker’s office, particularly regarding budgetary matters. The Freedom Caucus members, half of whom supported McCarthy throughout, are also requesting greater representation on the Rules Committee. The real disappointment is not that 20 House Republicans “embarrassed” the GOP with these lengthy votes but that so few House Republicans signed up for this program. It is also important to note that, when McCarthy finally gave in to their demands, most members of the Rebel Alliance joined him immediately. There was only one person who didn’t like McCarthy personally. Although the spectacle was not very entertaining (though it will be remembered), I believe this was their best hour.

It is worth noting that 1974 was the year that the House became a cheering section or mule boy for the administrative state. This was when the very left Democrat “Watergate Babies” overturned decades-old House rules to empower left. It is long past time for Republicans to counter-revolution. Gingrich made some positive changes to the House in 1995 but didn’t go far enough. In some cases, he even went in the wrong direction. Perhaps we needed the “Trump babies”, which I’ll provisorily call, to make enough fuss to make any real changes to the House’s workings.

Don’t forget the delayed-fuse bomb that this could set off among Democrats further down the line. Remember that the progressive caucus (AOC, etc.) took Biden’s infrastructure bill hostage to demand passage by the Green New Deal. They may regret it now that they have seen what concessions a determined minority can get. Watch out for AOC and their friends to adopt the model that the GOP Rebel Alliance just established next time Democrats are in the House majority. Although their demands may seem absurd, it is a helpful way to clarify American politics.

For now, there’s more to this whole matter. One of the ironies in the American political system’s is that the Speaker of the House doesn’t actually do speak. The Speaker of the House of Commons in Britain should be more like the Speaker of the House of Representatives in America: someone who manages the day-today procedures. The majority leader and the party policy committees should handle the legislative business. Let McCarthy sit in his Speaker’s Chair. Let McCarthy and the rest of his caucus continue to engage in trench warfare that will win some battles.