Eggs on the face of US democracy

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I was hoping for a bit of routine political theatre on January 3, for the election of the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives. It turned out to be a lot more than I or anyone else had expected, with the election coming four days and 15 hotly contested, controversial ballots later. There were so many bad actors and so many drama queens participating; what should have been a dignified process, turned into a theatre of the absurd. Congressional elections were held last November, with Republicans gaining a narrow victory. Their leader, Kevin McCarthy, had recently moved into the Speaker’s office vacated by Nancy Pelosi, but for the 118th Congress to begin, the Speaker had to be chosen by a majority of its elected members.

Republicans always refer to themselves as ‘The party of Lincoln’, but there is no doubt they are now the party of Donald Trump, which was manifested during this chaotic and protracted election process. I was not masochistic enough to follow the entire four days of political circus on television, but saw enough from news clips to reassure me that politics is entertainment, and, unfortunately, is also a necessary evil. Not to say that all politicians have evil intentions, but in my humble opinion, politicians are merely circus entertainers. Congressman McCarthy was walking the tightrope, and there were rowdy clowns determined to make him fall. All were following the orders of the ringmaster, Trump, who was cracking his whip from behind the high walls of his Florida mansion. McCarthy is a faithful Trump acolyte, but unable to attain the majority vote because of opposition from about 20 elected Congress members, who were also faithful Trump acolyes.

It sounds quite ridiculous, which it undoubtedly is, but those opposing McCarthy considered themselves more rigidly aligned to the doctrines of Donald Trump than he is. The dissident 20 were publicly cajoled into supporting McCarthy little by little, but only after he granted them one concession after another. After the 14th ballot resulted in one vote short of a majority, there was almost a display of fisticuffs. A vote to adjourn for the weekend with the speakership unresolved was about to be adopted, then reversed when a telephone message came through from that Florida mansion, and that vital 15th ballot confirmed McCarthy as the Speaker. The usual comments were made about democracy being a messy business, and we all know that eggs have to be broken to make an omelette.

Sadly, democrats are no better nor worse with their pathetic, partisan political shenanigans; and the same must be said for politics everywhere. In this case, in front of the entire world, American democracy ended up with a whole lot of eggs on its face.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada