In the wake of both global and domestic tragedies, governments should be responding with strong, inspiring leadership. Unfortunately, the United States federal government has not been operating at a competent level in order to keep up and demonstrate strength in the midst of ongoing international atrocities.
The ousting of Kevin McCarthy from his speakership left the House of Representatives without a leader for weeks. For Congress, finding a replacement should have been a top priority — instead, it was a comical display of infighting.
After McCarthy’s departure on Oct. 3, the House started the process of electing a new Republican speaker. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio was foreseen as the replacement for McCarthy as speaker, but after losing for a third consecutive round of voting, Jordan’s future suddenly started to look foggy.
McCarthy’s arrival to the speakership back in January was far from an easy process. Congress ruthlessly dragged out McCarthy’s rise for as long as 15 ballots, making Jordan’s three losses look trivial. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana eventually won the gavel.
It’s not unusual for Congress to complicate processes when they aren’t onboard with a potential result, even if there’s no solid alternative. However, the House needs to realize that their actions and incompetence send a message to the rest of the world regarding our domestic strength. While countries are at war, Congress continued to bicker in the Capitol and made the voting process just as difficult as the last.
Our leaders remain ignorant and lack perspicacity when it comes to how the rest of the world perceives us in a time of disarray. It shouldn’t be lost in translation that every voice in Congress should matter, but this is a terrible time to be leaderless. It’s in the interest of the common good for the House and the American people to elect a leader in a timely and professional manner so we don’t look like headless chickens to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, even with Johnson now in power, the process was anything but timely and professional.
Upon his arrival to Speakership, Johnson had already made some bold promises, giving a lot of other congressmen pause for the future. Surely, some may now feel that the grass was greener back when McCarthy was still the Speaker.
With a delayed election for the speakership, two of the three branches of the federal government were in perfect motion to be ridiculed and mocked by the whole world, including countries that wreak havoc actively in other places.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, our House continuously fails to compromise, and even Johnson might not be enough to unite them. Republicans continue to fight in the House, repeating a terrible mistake that was last made less than a year ago.
Even after a speaker is elected, the future of the federal government is not looking good.
President Joe Biden has made our country look weak since the very beginning of his term. Biden’s age is impacting him — particularly during public appearances. We need a strong, capable leader, but the upcoming presidential election is not looking good.
Not much has changed since 2020. Former President Donald Trump is spewing the same rhetoric and Biden is making fewer appearances and continues to fail to show strength and integrity in this presidential race. Again, it seems that history may be doomed to repeat itself.
This represents nothing more than the flaws on the federal level and how they constantly fail to understand their problems and shortcomings.
