Let’s pick up where we left off last week.

The U.S. House of Representatives has an odd rule.

It in effect allows a small minority of the majority to join forces with a large majority of the minority to vacate the chair in whatever circumstances the small minority of the majority chooses, if a large majority of the minority is willing to go along.

That’s what happened to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Just under 5 percent of the majority joined forces with all of the minority to oust the speaker.

No matter who the speaker is, and no matter which political party the speaker belongs to, this is no way to run a railroad, much less a legislature, much less the U.S. House of Representatives.

No way at all.

Certainly not for a party that is worthy of being a majority party.

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It’s one thing to be a minority-party member in a legislature.

Yes, such members–like majority-party members–should do their jobs, work with the other side, work with the executive branch, and put the best interest of the people first.

However, as hard or as frustrating as being a minority-party member can be, there’s a luxury to it: Ultimately one has greater leeway than majority-party members to stand on one’s principles and not compromise when one would rather not, thank you very much.

To put it simplistically, one can be satisfied with being right, because minority-party members aren’t among those who ultimately have to govern.

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In recent decades, Republicans have become competitive in various quests to be the majority party in either the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, or both.

Most Republicans in the House or Senate understand what most Democrats in the House or Senate have understood all along: Unlike minority-party members, majority-party members–again, to put it simplistically–can’t be satisfied with being right, because they ultimately have to govern.

That means they must work out their differences. That, in turn, means that when they don’t get everything their way, they don’t get to take their marbles, go home, and stay there.

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After coming up short in his 1960 quest for the Republican presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater in effect cheerfully implored his supporters not to take their marbles, go home, and stay there.

The Arizonan told them at the Republican National Convention that he thought they could take the GOP back some day.

“Let’s get to work,” Goldwater said. “Let’s grow up, conservatives.”

Therein lies good advice when one isn’t satisfied with something that has happened.

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Speaking of legislatures in general, state Sen. Jess Present, who served in the New York state Legislature for more than three decades, once said that sometimes the best result in a legislature is when everyone is a little bit unhappy.

The more you think about that, the more you see how insightful it is.

The best result can depend, however, on everyone’s–or perhaps most everyone’s–staying at the table until the completion of the task at hand.

All the more so when the task at hand is the selection of, say, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the majority party’s–in this case, the Republicans’–margin is small.

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In short, sometimes one has to be willing, when one doesn’t get (all of) what one wants, to be satisfied with what one can accomplish and then come back another day.

To do that, one can’t simply take one’s marbles, go home, and stay there.

Most Republicans in the House–like most Democrats in the House–need no admonishment, cheerful or not, to grow up.

Nor do they need admonishment, cheerful or not, to be willing to be a little bit unhappy.

Nevertheless, a few in both parties would do well to follow either the Goldwater advice or the Present advice.

Or both.

Given what happened to McCarthy, and the difficulty in electing his successor, it’s a few Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who, at this particular time, would do particularly well to heed Senator Goldwater or Senator Present.

Or both.

Randy Elf was Jess Present’s ticket mate in 1998.

ç 2023 BY RANDY ELF