Congratulations, Jerry, on some real down-to-earth detective work. Obviously a lot of time and effort went into this, and there's plenty more to do, but history shows that even a small group of people can make a huge difference.
Although I live in Canada, what happens in the USA directly impacts us here, and we too have a loud, ignorant, anti-everything far-right that is following the MAGA extremist playbook. Luckily they don't have any real elected power, but they know how to grab headlines by saying and doing outrageous things.
So it frightens me that if the American far-right isn't stopped that neo-fascist wave will wash over Canada too. And what an example for the world.
So my hat is off to you and your team of unsung heroes for your hard work; you are the true patriots.
I well remember the trucker blockades at the U.S. Canada border a year ago. As I recall, they were originally about vaccine mandates. But it was surprising how many Trump signs and flags were there as well. Obstruction and disruption are natural magnets for the extremist far right
(Of course, I don't know if there actually was a lot of Trump merch there, or if U.S. news cameras just focused on them. It's easy to get a distorted view of things when 10 cameras point at the same scene while only 1 camera points at 10 different scenes. But that's a whole separate topic.)
Here at Feathers of Hope, we're big believers in the old ripples-in-the-pond idea. So if you have some politically engaged friends in the U.S., please share our posts with them. The larger our network, the more effective we can be. Thanks again.
Jerry, While you are to be commended for launching this project, I do wonder, if McCarthy were to survive a motion to vacate, were there one, whether the Republicans you have listed would join Democrats this summer to unequivocally raise the debt ceiling.
We can be sure that no one will be making a motion to vacate unless there's certainty it will pass. That's why we need to promote the idea now and continue advocating for it over the next couple months -- so that when the moment comes, the ground has been prepared. That is, people will have been talking about it and ideally, reluctant Members of Congress will be reassured that there's public support for the move.
As I've outlined in previous posts (see 3 links near the top of this post), the debt ceiling showdown is our target moment. That's when McCarthy will be most vulnerable.
The MAGA radicals have already announced their intention to oppose raising the debt ceiling. Whether McCarthy stands with them, or turns against them, some bipartisan solution will be inevitable.
Either way, McCarthy is on a losing side. That will be our moment to act, our moment to argue that his continued presence as Speaker is untenable. And at that moment the cross-party alliance will already be in place. They need only take the next logical step.
Jerry, Though I might be a lone voice, I am troubled that the House Republicans you have listed not only were silent last January while Freedom Caucus extremists were extracting concession after concession from McCarthy, but also have remained silent as far-right extremists have pursued their agenda of ugly, hate-filled investigations seemingly intended to upend regular order in Congress. Hence, circling back to my original comment, can we be confident, regardless of whether or not McCarthy’s position as Speaker is challenged, that the Republicans you note will vote this summer with Democrats to unequivocally raise the debt ceiling? I ask because your entire project seems to hinge on the debt ceiling invariably precipitating a showdown that splits the Republican Party, an outcome, in my view, that is not a certainty.
Well, actually they weren't silent in January. With the exception of Rep. Spartz, they staunchly supported McCarthy. There are sound institutional reasons for that, just as there are sound institutional reasons why the Democrats remained united behind Rep. Jeffries though he had no chance of being elected Speaker. Had the MAGA group stayed equally united, there would eventually have been a cross-party alliance like the one we are proposing now.
I'd say the project hinges on two things:
1) the willingness of a sufficient number of Republicans Members of the House to replace the current Speaker with a different Republican, and
2) the willingness of a sufficient number of Democratic Members of the House to vote for a Republican to be Speaker.
Neither of those two things is certain, and that's what we are trying to influence. All the rest is timing.
In my opinion, the most likely time for the above to happen is when the deadline for raising the debt ceiling is imminent. It's an absolute certainty that the United States government will not default on its debt. Stakeholders are far too powerful to allow that to happen. That's why I say that a bipartisan solution is inevitable.
Whatever theater may preceed passage of the necessary legislation, the end result is not in doubt. But what will also then be glaringly apparent is the cost of weak leadership indebted to a radical minority. I would not go so far as to say the Republican Party will formally split. Bipartisan legislation happens all the time. But McCarthy's problem is that he has few truly loyal allies on either side of the MAGA/establishment divide.
And once a pragmatic coalition forms, however temporarily, that majority of House Members may well recognize the benefit for all of electing a Speaker who can lead with broad support.
Jerry, While I pray for your project to succeed, suffice it to say that you and I hold quite different perspectives regarding the 4 days during which Freedom Caucus extremists were extracting concession after concession from McCarthy as he desperately sought to garner the requisite number of votes needed to become Speaker. As for raising the debt ceiling, while one side, regardless of which Party presided in the White House, has understood that paying one’s debts is not a negotiation, the other side’s view invariably has been tied to whether its own or the opposing Party occupied the White House. Accordingly, considering the most extremist Republicans in my lifetime currently control the U.S. House, I don’t imagine anyone with any certainty can predict what will happen once that debt must be paid.
I continue to applaud your efforts to adjust our mostly dysfunctional national Congress.
However , I feel that enfranchising our electorate and reconsidering "Citizens United" would have a better chance. None-the-less, if this effort takes wings then hallelujah. I'm attaching an article that I feel is another worthy effort.
Don, While your comment is not addressed to me, I write mostly because I agree that an initiative that expands both ranked-choice voting and vote-by-mail (both quite doable) likely would induce more people to vote. That said, though the prospect of overturning Citizens United seems unlikely for the foreseeable future, I would note that H.R.1 For the People that passed in the House in 2021 not only provided federal safeguards to ensure votes were cast, counted correctly, and certified without interference and without their being diluted through partisan gerrymandering, but also provided provisions for getting dark money out of politics.
Thank you Don. Likewise, I applaud your efforts on ranked-choice voting and agree that its broad adoption would make a dramatic difference. The Washington Monthly article has a link to FairVote.org , an advocacy group working to build support for the idea. I'll happily add a mention of them to my comments here and on other sites when appropriate.
I'd also add that there's a robust effort to pass a Constitutional amendment to counter the Citizens United decision. Rep. Pramila Jayapal is a lead sponsor: MoveToAmend.org
For me it's not a question of which has a better chance. We are all part of the same effort to restore the voices of the people to our democracy.
Forgive my myopic vision. The only way I can see him ousted is if the indict all of his ilk in Congress at same time, and like law enforcement give them time off with pay. I’m here to learn how to use my last years to aid freedom that should be common sense in a world of crazy.
I hope that each and every traitor that aided and abetted, ( still are!), aided and abetted the coup be indicted. If so McCarthy is their elected leader, as is Mitch.
It’s time to flush as many times as x45 did with who knows what, all the traitors.
Congratulations, Jerry, on some real down-to-earth detective work. Obviously a lot of time and effort went into this, and there's plenty more to do, but history shows that even a small group of people can make a huge difference.
Although I live in Canada, what happens in the USA directly impacts us here, and we too have a loud, ignorant, anti-everything far-right that is following the MAGA extremist playbook. Luckily they don't have any real elected power, but they know how to grab headlines by saying and doing outrageous things.
So it frightens me that if the American far-right isn't stopped that neo-fascist wave will wash over Canada too. And what an example for the world.
So my hat is off to you and your team of unsung heroes for your hard work; you are the true patriots.
Thank you for your continuing support Roger.
I well remember the trucker blockades at the U.S. Canada border a year ago. As I recall, they were originally about vaccine mandates. But it was surprising how many Trump signs and flags were there as well. Obstruction and disruption are natural magnets for the extremist far right
(Of course, I don't know if there actually was a lot of Trump merch there, or if U.S. news cameras just focused on them. It's easy to get a distorted view of things when 10 cameras point at the same scene while only 1 camera points at 10 different scenes. But that's a whole separate topic.)
Here at Feathers of Hope, we're big believers in the old ripples-in-the-pond idea. So if you have some politically engaged friends in the U.S., please share our posts with them. The larger our network, the more effective we can be. Thanks again.
.
Jerry, While you are to be commended for launching this project, I do wonder, if McCarthy were to survive a motion to vacate, were there one, whether the Republicans you have listed would join Democrats this summer to unequivocally raise the debt ceiling.
Thanks, Barbara.
We can be sure that no one will be making a motion to vacate unless there's certainty it will pass. That's why we need to promote the idea now and continue advocating for it over the next couple months -- so that when the moment comes, the ground has been prepared. That is, people will have been talking about it and ideally, reluctant Members of Congress will be reassured that there's public support for the move.
As I've outlined in previous posts (see 3 links near the top of this post), the debt ceiling showdown is our target moment. That's when McCarthy will be most vulnerable.
The MAGA radicals have already announced their intention to oppose raising the debt ceiling. Whether McCarthy stands with them, or turns against them, some bipartisan solution will be inevitable.
Either way, McCarthy is on a losing side. That will be our moment to act, our moment to argue that his continued presence as Speaker is untenable. And at that moment the cross-party alliance will already be in place. They need only take the next logical step.
.
Jerry, Though I might be a lone voice, I am troubled that the House Republicans you have listed not only were silent last January while Freedom Caucus extremists were extracting concession after concession from McCarthy, but also have remained silent as far-right extremists have pursued their agenda of ugly, hate-filled investigations seemingly intended to upend regular order in Congress. Hence, circling back to my original comment, can we be confident, regardless of whether or not McCarthy’s position as Speaker is challenged, that the Republicans you note will vote this summer with Democrats to unequivocally raise the debt ceiling? I ask because your entire project seems to hinge on the debt ceiling invariably precipitating a showdown that splits the Republican Party, an outcome, in my view, that is not a certainty.
Well, actually they weren't silent in January. With the exception of Rep. Spartz, they staunchly supported McCarthy. There are sound institutional reasons for that, just as there are sound institutional reasons why the Democrats remained united behind Rep. Jeffries though he had no chance of being elected Speaker. Had the MAGA group stayed equally united, there would eventually have been a cross-party alliance like the one we are proposing now.
I'd say the project hinges on two things:
1) the willingness of a sufficient number of Republicans Members of the House to replace the current Speaker with a different Republican, and
2) the willingness of a sufficient number of Democratic Members of the House to vote for a Republican to be Speaker.
Neither of those two things is certain, and that's what we are trying to influence. All the rest is timing.
In my opinion, the most likely time for the above to happen is when the deadline for raising the debt ceiling is imminent. It's an absolute certainty that the United States government will not default on its debt. Stakeholders are far too powerful to allow that to happen. That's why I say that a bipartisan solution is inevitable.
Whatever theater may preceed passage of the necessary legislation, the end result is not in doubt. But what will also then be glaringly apparent is the cost of weak leadership indebted to a radical minority. I would not go so far as to say the Republican Party will formally split. Bipartisan legislation happens all the time. But McCarthy's problem is that he has few truly loyal allies on either side of the MAGA/establishment divide.
And once a pragmatic coalition forms, however temporarily, that majority of House Members may well recognize the benefit for all of electing a Speaker who can lead with broad support.
Jerry, While I pray for your project to succeed, suffice it to say that you and I hold quite different perspectives regarding the 4 days during which Freedom Caucus extremists were extracting concession after concession from McCarthy as he desperately sought to garner the requisite number of votes needed to become Speaker. As for raising the debt ceiling, while one side, regardless of which Party presided in the White House, has understood that paying one’s debts is not a negotiation, the other side’s view invariably has been tied to whether its own or the opposing Party occupied the White House. Accordingly, considering the most extremist Republicans in my lifetime currently control the U.S. House, I don’t imagine anyone with any certainty can predict what will happen once that debt must be paid.
Jerry:
I continue to applaud your efforts to adjust our mostly dysfunctional national Congress.
However , I feel that enfranchising our electorate and reconsidering "Citizens United" would have a better chance. None-the-less, if this effort takes wings then hallelujah. I'm attaching an article that I feel is another worthy effort.
Peace,
Don
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/03/02/two-great-election-reforms-that-go-great-together/
Don, While your comment is not addressed to me, I write mostly because I agree that an initiative that expands both ranked-choice voting and vote-by-mail (both quite doable) likely would induce more people to vote. That said, though the prospect of overturning Citizens United seems unlikely for the foreseeable future, I would note that H.R.1 For the People that passed in the House in 2021 not only provided federal safeguards to ensure votes were cast, counted correctly, and certified without interference and without their being diluted through partisan gerrymandering, but also provided provisions for getting dark money out of politics.
Thank you Don. Likewise, I applaud your efforts on ranked-choice voting and agree that its broad adoption would make a dramatic difference. The Washington Monthly article has a link to FairVote.org , an advocacy group working to build support for the idea. I'll happily add a mention of them to my comments here and on other sites when appropriate.
I'd also add that there's a robust effort to pass a Constitutional amendment to counter the Citizens United decision. Rep. Pramila Jayapal is a lead sponsor: MoveToAmend.org
For me it's not a question of which has a better chance. We are all part of the same effort to restore the voices of the people to our democracy.
Forgive my myopic vision. The only way I can see him ousted is if the indict all of his ilk in Congress at same time, and like law enforcement give them time off with pay. I’m here to learn how to use my last years to aid freedom that should be common sense in a world of crazy.
I hope that each and every traitor that aided and abetted, ( still are!), aided and abetted the coup be indicted. If so McCarthy is their elected leader, as is Mitch.
It’s time to flush as many times as x45 did with who knows what, all the traitors.