Typical of corporate and big conservative media, we had the pleasure of hearing ad nauseum how the process whereby a speaker of the U.S. House is elected was somehow disruptive and bad optics and whatever other parroted drivel. These dimwits might as well have said it was downright unpatriotic.   

Of course, the jabbering propagandists at CNN and MSNBC painted the speaker contest as the start of the Apocalypse, which is exactly what their dwindling audiences of Karens, woke hucksters, race peddlers, and climate catastrophe inbreds want painted. Their talking points came from the DNC, without which they’d, deer-in-headlights, stare vacantly into the cameras.    

Over at Fox News, we had Sean Hannity browbeating Lauren Boebert for the sin of offering no viable alternative to Kevin McCarthy.  Sean missed the point of the rebellion.  Newt Gingrich characterized the 20 dissident Republicans as “blackmailers.”  Newt who came to fame in the 80s challenging the GOP establishment and throwing bombs.  Rightly so.      

What happened on the House floor in less than a week is what’s supposed to happen in a nation brimming with freedom.  A speaker was elected in an open forum through a civil process and citizens were free to watch.  It was contentious and messy at times.  But, heck, there were no melees, though one almost occurred.     

Alabama’s Mike Rogers lunged at a sitting Matt Gaetz, the rebel faction’s bête noire.  Rogers had to be restrained and nearly lost his rug in the fracas.  Rogers’ crouching tiger routine wasn’t quite on par with Preston Brooks caning Charles Sumner on the Senate floor, but it did bring back the memory of when democracy was rowdy sport and not the domain of flabby, green-haired, tattooed, nose-ringed sissies and their hovering mommies.          

What does actual living, breathing democracy look like?  You witnessed a family audience version of it.  A lot of ugly sausage grinding.  The plainer the view, the healthier for liberty. 

What we’ve observed in recent years is stilted anti-democracy, imposed mostly by the establishment and Democrats.  There’s a cultural overlay, importantly.  A feminized, everybody-gets-a-ribbon generation recoils at conflict.  Heck, they recoil if told their shirts don’t match their pants.  Making nice is assigned a premium and has been ladled into mushy skulls.  It matters more than what’s concretely achieved through often arduous -- and, jeepers, bruising -- processes.   

The anti-democracy Stepford Wives standard has been predictably aped by establishment Republicans, who dream nights of being Democrats’ Stepford wives.  Go ask Nebraska’s Don Bacon about that.  Bacon, who threatened to jump ship to work with Democrats had McCarthy missed the brass ring.  Bacon, as in pork, whose name is perfectly suited to his work as a squishier member of Congress.      

Democrats have “transformed’ their congressional leadership elections into Stalinist affairs.  They might as well hold their elections on college campuses.  Powerbrokers select and anoint candidates.  Their ballots offer Column A.  Column B is blank.  Dare show the temerity to dissent, especially publicly, a la the GOP rebels, and expect to be crushed, in a very orchestrated way.  Isn’t that referred to in today’s vernacular as “cancelled?”

Yes, AOC and her band of “of-color” diversity poster malcontents do stir the pot ever so slightly, but have no doubt that wizened Comrade Pelosi and her Politburo chums made it clear to this rump that while they’d get some bones, unless they ceased and desisted, those long knives would whittle them down to size.  Ouch.              

During the rounds of election votes, the rebels put forward candidates to oppose McCarthy.  Florida’s Byron Donalds was one.  Make no mistake, Donalds is a future, major GOP leader. 

Thanks to the “nasty” speaker’s election, more Americans were introduced to Donalds.  Record that as a wonderful side benefit.  He even received a publicity push from racist Democrat Cori Bush, who said that ol’ Uncle Tom Donalds was a mere prop.  We wonder what Cori will say one day when Donalds is Speaker of the House or Senate GOP leader or Florida governor and, perhaps, a serious veep or presidential contender while she’s still pimping hate? 

But Donalds’ day is yet to dawn.  The rebels knew that, and they and Donalds understood that derailing McCarthy’s election was a longshot and wasn’t their primary aim.  They were being more strategic and tactical than a roomful of RINOs at the Palm is capable of being.    

The aim was to drag out the process to wring concessions from McCarthy and his leadership team.  And wouldn’t you know it.  In less than a week, the Freedom Caucus stalwarts did, indeed, make McCarthy fold and concede critical conditions for his obtaining the speakership.  They played indispensable roles in establishing the framework within which McCarthy acts as speaker.    

Needless to say, McCarthy’s feet must be held to the fire.  Laws aren’t worth a plug nickel unless enforced.  The conditions wrung from McCarthy matter little unless Gaetz, Boebert, Perry, and their allies remind McCarthy that the sword dangling over his head isn’t there for decoration.

The two key internal conditions won by the rebels were their receiving representation on the Rules Committee, which is pivotal to agenda-setting in the House and determines the amendments process on the House floor, among other functions.  The other was permitting just one member to move that the chair (meaning speaker’s chair) be vacated.  It puts McCarthy on a short leash.  There were other critical concessions, which the Daily Mail summarizes.           

The spin now is that the speaker’s election will make McCarthy a stronger leader.  It should, unless McCarthy remains as tin-eared as he was just following the midterms. 

It was then -- realizing that the red wave would amount to nothing more than a red trickle, and that the GOP House majority would tally a slim 222 members, and that the defection of just five Republicans would put the kibosh to all sorts of measures -- that McCarthy should have grasped that engaging Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, and other dissidents was critical to his securing the speakership.  Instead, in his conceit, McCarthy assumed that the speaker’s vote would be pro forma.  Why, those gripers wouldn’t make a big fuss. 

McCarthy and his equally smug advisors regarded the Freedom Caucus fighters much the same as King George regarded the patriots: peasants easily dispatched.  So much for that.  Had McCarthy taken the dissidents seriously from the get-go, and had he undertaken meaningful discussions leading to resolutions, he may have been spared the pundit described “very awful” spectacle of winning election through upfront, old-fashioned haggling.  Our hearts break.

McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus victors relationship is now entwined.  The success of McCarthy’s speakership rests on abiding the agreement hammered out with the victors.  With consultation, he will set the conference’s agenda and move legislation accordingly.  He will, of necessity, listen, engage, and seek accommodations.  Or he should if he’s smart.  Has McCarthy really learned from his trial? 

The goal for all must be single-minded: provide a compelling counter to the destructive leadership of Biden’s handlers, Schumer’s Senate majority, and Mitch McConnell’s fifth column.    

For the victors, advancing a freedom agenda is paramount.  McCarthy has the talent, skill set, and the reach across the conference to lead.  The imperative for Freedom Caucus stalwarts is to persist.  The speaker simply must cooperate and produce.  Their success is his, and his, theirs.  

As Rick said to Louie in the closing scene from Casablanca, “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”    

J. Robert Smith can be found regularly at Gab @JRobertSmith.  He also blogs at Flyover.  He’s recently returned to Twitter.  His Twitter handle is @JRobertSmith1.

Image: Speaker John Boehner