The worst is yet to come in the House of Representatives

A lawmaker thinks that turning the Speaker into a "ceremonial" post is a good idea. It ain't.

Florida GOP congressman Matt Gaetz thinks it’s a great idea to turn the House speakership into a “ceremonial” job and make the head of the Freedom Caucus more powerful than the House Speaker, whoever he may be.

In other words, a small minority of representatives would be able to control just about everything, including what bills get to the House floor for a vote. He would have not just veto power but the power to control the sum and substance of legislation that gets passed.

This is wackiness in the extreme.

This would make the extended and painful fight over who is elected the Speaker look like a walk in the park. Not that past Speakers were angels. Joe Cannon as Speaker had dictatorial powers. But Gaetz would turn the House into a circus, virtually without majority leadership.

Not that that the holdouts to re-election of Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn’t have some good ideas. One is the replacement of the “omnibus” appropriation bill with the paring down of the budget into separate procedures—e.g. the Defense Department’s budget would be separate from, say, the Agriculture Department. That’s how it used to be, quite effectively.

Reported give-ins by McCarthy would be an increase in the number of seats for Freedom Caucus members on the powerful Rules Committee, which acts like a traffic cop to decide what bills can proceed to a floor vote. Also, backing for term limits and stopping the dumping of often complex bills on lawmakers just before a vote, denying the them ability to study it thoughtfully.

Giving minorities more influence to counter balance against dictatorial rule by the majority is at the heart of the division of powers between the legislative, judicial and judicial branches of government. To wit: the Senate filibuster, that gives the minority party a modicum hand in outcomes.

But Gaetz’ proposal goes much further. Giving minorities near-total control as Gaetz wants it would create a legislative circus. Like a sharp stick in the eye, a minority could fully thwart reasonable compromise. The Freedom Caucus should be thinking of the precedent they would be setting.