Weekly Email/Show Highlights for the week ending on Friday, January 6th, 2023

Welcome to the AmericaCanWeTalk Weekly Email for the week ending on Friday, January 6th, 2023!

Click on any of the words in dark red font below to go directly to the show clips described.

The drawn out fight this past week in Washington over who would next serve as Speaker of the House for the upcoming 118th Congress paralleled the broader battle ongoing in politics all over America, at least on the conservative side of the aisle.

The battle in Congress was a microcosm of the larger and very healthy political battle America is engaged in right now, over whether we the people are still the sovereign as the Constitution contemplates, or whether we are willing to have a small ruling class cabal in DC ignore our wishes, trample our freedom,  and run more and more of our lives.  In Congress the battle was over whether the Speaker should hold nearly all the power over what Congress can discuss or vote on, or whether the elected Members of Congress retain power to control the debate and insist on being heard.

Same battle, different battleground.

The Speaker’s race was and is also especially consequential because of “what time it is in America.”  America under the control of the Left is speeding over the cliff to the pit of marxism and socialism. The expanding power of the federal government, the targeting of political enemies by federal agencies, and the seeming loss of the bedrock principle of blind justice and the rule of law, and many more deeply disturbing developments under the Biden Regime, all militate against the business-as-usual mindset and the push to fall in line with tradition and ruling class expectations. Boldness, and the capacity to act with agility and flexibility and speed, are needed to respond with vigor to what the Left is doing to America.

In other words, the SOTH debate and exercise and outcome were very much worth it.

The 20 or so Republican House members who said “not so fast” extracted some concessions from Kevin McCarthy to allow him to win after 15 rounds of votes, and those concessions are important:

— There will be a Church-style Committee investigation of the conduct of the national security federal agencies who have run roughshod over America’s freedom – a HUGE victory to fight back against growing tyranny out of Washington.

— Congress will vote separately on each of the 12 different appropriation bills, rather than one enormous omnibus spending bill

— House Members will have 72 hours to review bills before they come to the House floor

— More House Freedom Caucus members will serve on the all-important Rules Committee

—The House is committed to balancing the budget within 10 years and to making cuts in woke and weaponized government

— It will be easier to try to remove the Speaker (vacate the chair), (but still honestly almost impossible)

—Leadership will have a reduced role in funding primary candidates which will enable a fairer fight for conservatives

—There will be a floor vote on term limits and border security (meaning the bill or motion will not be stymied in committee before it gets to the floor.)

These rule changes were a “long time coming” and are only as strong as the willingness of the Members of Congress to force leadership to honor them. They  should not be seen as weakening the Speaker, but rather as strengthening America by bringing about a return to what should have been, which is the more active and direct involvement in the process by the people elected by the people.

Some dear friends and serious conservatives were upset by the SOTH hearings as they were perceived as unseemly and as evidence of a lack of preparation by the GOP majority. I very respectfully disagree with that concern. This robust process was needed at this time. The message was sent loud and clear to the moderate wing of the GOP that the elected conservatives are going to stand strong at this time of great need for leadership by the GOP in America. On the “we still love America” side we must band together despite our differing views of who should have been speaker or how the process should have been.

I hope you all had a lovely and wonderful holiday season. My husband and I enjoyed a break from our work lives over the Christmas/New Year holidays. But we are back! We, and AmericaCanWeTalk, are ready to roll into a hugely consequential year for America.

All of our shows are always available for you to watch at our website, AmericaCanWeTalk.org.

We kicked off the New Year with a GREAT AmericaCanWeTalk Thursday show on January 5th, featuring recently retired United States Representative Louie Gohmert, who represented TX CD-1 very faithfully for many years. Rep. Gohmert shared many very important insights about why the race for Speaker of the House matters so much, an in-depth explanation of how much power the Speaker has to marginalize and isolate members of the Congress who defy him or her,  and some “war stories” about past episodes in Congress where the Speaker utterly defied the will of the majority of his own party.  In short, IT MATTERS who the Speaker of the House is!

 

Debbie Georgatos
Host: America, Can We Talk?