If we were serious about

A functioning House of Representatives

When Kevin McCarthy set out to be elected Speaker of the House, he had two strategic choices: one required an overweening desire for the ego gratification that came with the position and a gross overassessment of his ability to lead a group of people in a positive and coherent direction; the other required creativity and a measure of courage and self-confidence. As we’ve seen, he chose the ego driven direction and now has thoroughly worn out his welcome and whatever goodwill he might have come into office with. Having twice been forced to work with the Democratic caucus, there is suggestion/hope that he’s learned enough of a lesson to continue to do so despite a career of decisions that argue otherwise. There have also been arguments that it will somehow accrue to their benefit for the Democrats to vote to keep him as ‘Speaker’ in the expectation that he’ll now keep any promises he makes.

The Democrats would be fools to have any faith in that possibility and would be even more foolish to use any parliamentary tools to maintain a McCarthy Speakership. They, and the country, would be far better off to strengthen the bipartisan trend that currently exists by voting to Vacate the Speakership, electing a moderate Republican like Don Bacon, Brian Fitzpatrick, or Dave Joyce as Speaker for the balance of this Congress, and passing such needed legislation as the 12 appropriations bills, a standalone bill providing support for Ukraine, and a permanent end to the debt ceiling. Working together on basics, Congresspeople might even find it effective to work with each other on the Voting Rights Act, legal status for Dreamers and the removal of the income cap for Social Security tax. A list of such successes would go a long way to offset any primary challenges from what would then be a very much disarmed and toothless right-wing fringe. We’ve had a year and a half of experience with a gutless Speaker who is intimidated by anyone who threatens him and it is past time that he was removed and Congress got back to work.

I’ve never seen a better argument for increasing the size of the House so that each Congressperson represented about 250,000 Americans instead of the 750,000 constituents each has now. An effective bipartisan House might even be willing to take up that reform and talk about national ranked choice voting. I can dream, right?