My Choice to be the Next Speaker of the US House

Jim Hightower Author, Commentator, America’s Number One Populist

House Speaker John Boehner gave up his position because he couldn't stand the job anymore. Next in line was Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who started running for the job, but quickly backed-off. Rep. Paul Ryan says he's thinking about taking the job, even though he doesn't want it.

What's at work here is the Crazy Caucus. At one level or another, nearly all Republican House members belong, but the caucus is driven by about 50 hyper-crazies who believe that the greatest problems facing our country are Hillary Clinton's emails, Planned Parenthood, the existence of public services, and the "hordes" of Mexicans who sneak into our country so they can vote for Democrats. It's the job of the House Speaker to try "leading" these mad-dogs to an occasional bit of sanity. Who really wants to do that – or even thinks it's possible?

Well… several of the mad-dogs themselves say they should be put in charge. Daniel Webster says he's available (not the smart guy who compiled the dictionary, but a tea party bozo from Florida). Bill Flores, a little known tea party know-nothing from Texas, says he would unite the House by getting all the members to "spend enough time on our knees praying for each other." That's silly, but the idea of keeping lawmakers on their knees is appealing. Mike Pompeo of Kansas, a prince of right-wing pomposity who was elected by the billionaire Koch brothers to be their personal representative in Washington, says he's ready to lead the House toward a Koch-headed plutocracy.

That's pathetic. But wait – we have another surprising choice. It's a little known fact, but the Speaker of our House of Representatives does not actually have to be a member of Congress. So why don't we choose someone like a kindergarten teacher, a minimum wage worker, an organic farmer, or a circus ringmaster to run the show? Or maybe a group psychologist is what the place really needs.

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This has been reposted from Jim Hightower's website.

National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be – consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks. Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Hightower believes that the true political spectrum is not right to left but top to bottom, and he has become a leading national voice for the 80 percent of the public who no longer find themselves within shouting distance of the Washington and Wall Street powers at the top. He publishes a populist political newsletter, “The Hightower Lowdown.” He is a New York Times best-selling author, and has written seven books including, Thieves In High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country And It’s Time To Take It Back; If the Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates; and There’s Nothing In the Middle Of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos. His newspaper column is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate.

Posted In: Allied Approaches, From Jim Hightower

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