We are in a situation that is unprecedented in the modern era of our democracy. The Republican Party is paralyzed by a handful of MAGA anarchists that are elated to bring government to a halt. They are unable to come to an agreement on Kevin McCarthy's bid for Speaker of the House of Representatives, even though he has basically given away the farm to their looney objections. We were not that far from a similar situation with the last session, but with a slightly different twist - the Democrats were unable to get a lot of their agenda to move, thankfully, because of a couple of centrists not being on board with a lot of the more extreme measures that were being touted by the wild-eyed liberals on the extreme left.
With more than 70% of Americans in agreement on a wide range of issues, it would be really nice if that 70% had a way to make their voices heard over the rantings of the extremists on both the left and the right. The way that has worked in the past is that the out-of-power party would respond to their constituents by moving back to the center. Sadly, in this day and age of hyper-partisanism and media (where controversy yields advertising revenue) driven misinformation, the old natural correction forces no longer work. So, it is apparent that this impasse in Congress could go on for a long time.
The most sensible solution that I have seen floated is a bipartisan coalition to select a Centrist leaning Republican Speaker, who would be beholden to none of the extremists. In return for the support of moderate Democrats, a power-sharing system on committee memberships, some commitments on agenda, etc, would be part of the deal. This would, indeed, be a really Radical Centrist move.
I would love to take credit for this idea, but it has been floated by a number of moderate pundits in the past few days. An example is here: How about an Alaska-style coalition to end the impasse at the U.S. House? Nice idea, Peltola says. - Alaska Public Media
