When I have run for Congress (three times), I have announced how I would honor the Constitution. I would, for example, sponsor bills to get rid of the Department of Education and to modify the War Powers Act.
I would vote against interfering in other countries. I would not be sending huge funds to Israel. I would try to put some DoJ people behind bars. I would oppose sanctions against Russia.
I thought my ideas were anathema to the House, but I have now found that Rep Tom Massie. He is a cattle rancher from Kentucky with a Master’s degree from MIT (not in cattle-ranching, but in electrical engineering), who has already stood for those propositions. He is often a vote of ONE, or he votes with a few on such issues.
I hereby nominate him for Speaker. I had already nominated myself for that job to show that a layperson can constitutionally be the Speaker of the House. (Don’t worry, it is settled law, and on five occasions, a non-member of the House has been nominated.)
At first glance, Massie lacks Republican support, seeing as how he was rarely joined in his votes for bills. And maybe he won’t win the love of enough Dems, as he opposes Obamacare and is Climate-change hesitant. (Remember he’s from MIT). But you can never be sure.
It may be that many others have been dying to do what Massie does but felt prevented from disagreeing with colleagues. Please see my Jan 4, 2023 article on that at GraniteGrok.com entitled “The No-Party Party.”
I think Parties have been a curse. The power of “the Party leader” creates yet one more overwhelming force. It has held back many reps from voting the way their constituents want them to vote.
I should point out that my offer to be Speaker had nothing to do with the bills listed above. On the contrary, I wanted to rid the Speaker’s job of its undue claim to be policy-oriented. The Speaker is a coordinator of votes, not a spokesman for his/her legislative preference.
British diplomat John C Coleman in his 1992 book “The Conspirators’ Hierarchy,” said the late Lloyd Cutler (US Executive branch) had been tasked by the globalists with morphing Congress into a Westminster system. Yes, Cutler did a fab job, aided by the propagandist media.
So why do I propose Tom Massie as Speaker? Because Kevin McCarthy seems to have lost his bid, which is causing people to actually have some new thoughts!
Allow me to hold forth on the freedom of each Congressperson, a freedom almost unknown to the public, thanks to the media’s presentation of Congress as Westminster-like, where the Party in power can get anything it wants when the leader snaps his/her finger.
Freedom of the House
The Legislative Branch of government is the strongest branch, per the US Constitution, insofar as it can impeach members of the other two branches. It can pass laws by getting a simple majority from both chambers, House and Senate, plus a signature from the Oval Office.
The House runs its own shop (as does the Senate, separately) as far as procedures are concerned. The House makes Rules for its smooth running which are not laws and which can be altered at any time by a majority vote in that chamber alone.
For instance, whatever you think is a firm rule about the way to assign reps to committees, is not a firm rule at all. It can be scrapped and replaced. Or maybe we should not even have committees. They are not in the Constitution. (I don’t mean they are unconstitutional, just not mandated by the dear parchment.)
So right now, as the new 118th Congress’ House members are sitting there, a bit confused about “the McCarthy debacle,” they are getting a good lesson in the freedom of all 435 members. Each one counts.
See? the intimidating aspect of a Party has been removed from the room. A few Republicans said No to McCarthy and so the robot-like march into repetition of tradition has been ended. “Eeks, what should we do now?”
Actually, they could do nothing, just for fun. They could prop up a cardboard Speaker at the podium and vote to allow members — alphabetically, say, or by date of birth — to take turns being Speaker one week at a time. Or whatever.
Just to debate that, they would soon see that it has no Party tradition, and they can think for themselves. Wow! Maybe reds could be happy talking to blues. You never know.
As I said, constitutionally, the US should not even have a “Party in power.” The People are in power. Isn’t that gorgeous?
Please check the Wikipedia entry on Rep Thomas Massie, for his amazing career.
