We live in a world in which the candidate choices for both great American political parties are controlled by a minority of their constituents. The power of the Democratic Party’s progressive members makes the nomination of centrist candidates nearly impossible. The Republican Party, dominated by Donald Trump is even more…

You are Joseph Biden. You want to run for a second term. You do have a problem. You are eighty years old. By the end of that second term you will be eighty six. That means that your Vice-Presidential running mate is going to be unusually important. If you are…

Back at it after a break: We face an unusual presidential campaign and election in 2024. Unusual, because many voters in both parties seem hesitant about their party’s probable candidate. With well over three hundred million people in this country there are obviously many qualified candidates who could rise in…

Here is a problem: Roughly forty of the two hundred and twenty two Republicans in the current House owe their election to people motivated primarily by anger. Although that anger is interpreted as political, in the real world in real individuals, it is difficult to know what that anger is…

The midterms are over and we should not have been surprised at the outcome. Typically in this country in the first election after a new president takes office his party loses ground in the House and usually in the Senate. That happens because no matter how successful a new administration…

For new members in the House of Representatives, normally the real work year begins right after the November elections. Even though officially the term begins with being sworn in after the New Year, in real life it begins long before. Long before the January ceremonies offices are assigned, staff’s interviewed…

Let us remember that the framers of the Constitution had a terrible fear of democracy as they understood it, one in which all male voters could participate in the decisions of government. They were determined to avoid that at all cost. They kept repeating that what they were creating was…

It is Wednesday afternoon January fourth and the House has just held its sixth vote to elect a new speaker. The results have been consistent. Kevin McCarthy of California, who, during the last ten years has openly sought the office, has after the last vote almost exactly the amount of…

Tomorrow it begins! The Republicans, having won a slim majority in the House, are going to try to get down to business. Until now the newly elected members have probably devoted most of their time to getting their offices organized. They are given funding to organize their individual staffs. Many…