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Title: Holdout in the Dugout

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/the-battle-of-the-holdout|the-battle-of-the-holdout]]

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Created: 2023-01-06 12:40:06

Updated: 2023-03-15 03:00:00

Published: 2023-01-08 00:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:22:12.033943086


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The first order of business for 2023 has the American people witness to, suffering with and debating on the process by which the Speaker of the House of Representatives is selected and elected. What a gift it is turning out to be, though!

//How// is that, you ask?

As most COS volunteers are already tuned-in to politics, opportunity has arisen once again for more and more Americans to view this televised proceeding and become better engaged. And thanks to the grand stature this process has developed into, the election of the House Speaker for the 118th Congress, all are witness to the passion that is still meant to be generated by the people and channeled through our Representatives. 

One thing the American public has been lacking for decades is //knowledge// in all things constitutional and procedural. Another thing long-absent is //engagement//. Without these two elements, the American people are left not only to the mercy of the politicians' arbitrary decisions on their behalf, but also without comprehension of their own power before it is ever vested within a single representative. In the rush to pass, rather than the compulsion to review, revise and debate, our God-given constitutional rights are being pared away session after session. \\
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It may be desirable to have a representative with the means to do the People's will but imagine one doing the will of a people who are cognizant of their power. A recent Rasmussen [[https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/rasmussen-reports-poll-kevin-mccarthy/2023/01/05/id/1103201/|poll]] revealed the numbers of those likely voters in the Republican party both for and those against McCarthy as of the 3rd day of voting on the House Floor. The people are paying attention! Back and forth, they make their case to each other for their selection and the American people continue to become involved in greater and greater numbers as the agitation grows more visible. 

There appears to be a misconception that the [[https://www.congressionalinstitute.org/2018/12/28/how-the-house-elects-its-speaker/|selection]] of each party's nominee for House Speakership, made prior to the first week of the new Congress, is to be accepted without opposition. Debate is fundamental to all things American and although the selection is made prior, reasons may arise where a different nominee is named at election time and votes are sought to support the challenger named from the same party.

What we are witnessing is a knock-down drag-out fight on behalf of the constituents who placed them there rather than a pre-ordained House Speaker selection process that wasn't designed for the real-time input of the constituents. Detractors refer to showmanship, that there are frivolous or vain glorious motives at work but make no mistake, that is no clown on the ball field. 

{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/62625/62625_original.png?350x233}}

We have the option of either chaos in the streets among civilians or elected representatives going up to bat for We the People inside of The Congress. A Republic is what we have and it's processes are well established and protected by our Constitution. The frustration, uncertainty, and confrontation, however untidy they may be to the obsessively neat, are all par for the course where a gigantic, diverse population is trying to move forward as one. 

The discontented were represented and heard this week and no one could ignore it. Not this time around. Two out of three of our pillars; terms limits and fiscal responsibility, were on the table this week as negotiations were worked out between the Congress and the potential Speaker. This is a small victory for COS. We the People are in the game.

Read more about the history of the House Speakership [[https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Speaker-of-the-House/|here]].

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