As of the writing of this article (Tuesday evening Jan 3, 2023), three votes for the Speaker of the House have been taken.  The last vote, the "no" votes for Kevin McCarthy increased from 19 to 20 members of the Republican Party.  So 202 members still support McCarthy.  The 20 votes were cast for Jim Jordan, who flatly refuses to take the job.  He wants to lead the Judiciary Committee, which he is suited to do.  The few opponents of McCarthy are dividing the party, not uniting It, despite their protestations (as described by Rep. Lauren Boebert).

I must state clearly that I expected a larger Republican wave in November.  Now I accept that our leadership and the most ardent proponents of conservatism within the party are in a death clash.  This is the reason the red wave never occurred.

The swamp (in this case, the bureaucracy) is a threat to our republic.  Clearly, they have impacted several elections.  They work with the aid of Democrat administrations to maintain and extend their control.  The FBI leadership, for instance, does not love Biden, but they know they can manage him, whereas Trump is a loose cannon who would resist their influence.  This is the reason they continue to go after him.

The Democrats seek power at all costs.  They use Marxist approaches to gain the votes of low-information people by offering free things.  Lying to the citizens is no problem for the Democrats.  In this way, they follow the political thesis of The Prince.  They want to secure and maintain power, the rule of a dictator.  They use it to effect changes that will make statism more likely.  In this regard, they are consistent.  For over 100 years, beginning with Woodrow Wilson, they have pursued this approach.  Destroying our constitutional republic is possible, but not their aim.  Their aim is power and all the trappings that result from this such as wealth.  They take our income for their purposes.  Only the Republicans can stop this.

Niccolò Machiavelli also wrote another treatise, rarely discussed, called the "Discourses on Livy," which argues for a functioning republic.  Certainly, the use of political power for good or evil is determined by the individuals who exercise it.  In the end, having power and not using it wisely would be detrimental to society, according to Machiavelli. 

So how does this impact the process in the House of Representatives?  First, I must say that Kevin McCarthy would not be my first choice for speaker.  That said, he secured all but 31 votes (which went to Biggs) during the party leadership vote last year.  He did lay out his Commitment to America during the midterms, which are favorable.  His opponents argue that they have a consensus candidate to unite the party.  But none has emerged who wants the job.  The last time this occurred, Paul Ryan was unable to get a repeal of Obamacare through the Congress, as the Senate rejected all attempts — a failure to keep the Republicans' promise in the 2016 elections.  This loss weakened any chance to undo decades of liberalism.  Ryan was a somewhat weak leader, while Nancy Pelosi was a strong (though terrible) one.

The role of the speaker in modern politics is to raise money for campaigns.  In this role, Kevin McCarthy is perfectly suited and successful.  Yes, he has gotten money from Silicon Valley, but that means that people there support our goals or want to buy our votes.  Would you rather they support only Democrats, who will pass worse legislation?

McCarthy will have to guarantee to the holdouts a select committee to examine the fraud, abuse, and corruption within our police agencies, intelligence agencies, and Justice Department.  Further, he will have to ensure that the facts of the January 6, 2020 Capitol riots be revealed, not select information protecting Nancy Pelosi for refusing adequate national guard help and the FBI (involving the bombs at the DNC and RNC never investigated), which cherry-picked information given to the Jan. 6 committee.  He will also likely have to make more compromises to these opponents, beyond the motion to vacate.  In this regard, McCarthy is skilled and capable.

Given the small majority we hold, we need a leader who can navigate the press, the White House, and Senate opposition.  A republic requires compromises — more than I want to see, but necessary to get things accomplished.

Machiavelli would likely say it is time to come together before the Democrats seize more power.  McCarthy is not conservative enough, but compared to Pelosi, he is a fresh start.

Do the conservatives have a plan to fix the problems created by Biden's administration that he would sign?  Our leverage was wasted by the Republicans in the Senate in December.  This is the reason we did not have a red wave: the people are not inspired by our Republican leaders and don't trust them.  Incremental deeds that reverse the citizenry's mistrust must be McCarthy's goal.

Image: Kevin McCarthy.  Credit: World Economic Forum via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.