A friend of mine recently asked me why I admire Speaker Mike Johnson, despite my contrarian nature toward politicians in general and politicians in particular.
This is an immediately relevant question, given that House Republicans are scheduled to vote on their leadership, including the speaker, this Wednesday. As you may recall, the last time this vote was scheduled was more than a year ago, and House Republicans spent days trying to figure out the right answer. In the spirit of Winston Churchill, they ultimately did the right thing and voted for Johnson, but only after exhausting and discarding all other options.
It was a happy accidental moment. The House Republican Caucus has some members overloaded with egos, but they manage to focus on Speaker Johnson, who provides emotional, intellectual, and moral ballast to a caucus with great potential. I was able to guess. In a sea of over 200 aggressive personalities., He has maintained essential virtues and habits of humility.
To confirm this, I present Chairman Johnson’s Exhibit A. Note On November 6, the day after the election, he told his colleagues: Unfortunately, this memo has received little media coverage. This is a masterpiece of brevity, scope, ambition, and coaching. In it, Johnson said: “The American people have voted that we are ready to recover from the misery of the past four years and embark on a brighter, bolder path not defined by big government, bureaucratic control, poverty, or poverty. demonstrated by “inflation and awakening, but by freedom, security, strength, prosperity, and opportunity.” ”
Specifically, he writes: “We will secure our borders, prioritize the needs of Americans over foreigners, promote investment and opportunity through our tax code, restore America’s energy dominance, significantly reduce regulation, expand school choice, and wake up “We can put an end to the current agenda,” among other imperatives, by restoring Washington’s fiscal health. ”
And at the end of the memo, after speaking about what Congress can accomplish, what it must accomplish, what the American people want, and what it should do, he directly and humbly addresses members of Congress. We are asking for your continued support. Lead the conference in this great mission.
This letter is the only letter in which he states his desire to remain chairman, and it focuses almost exclusively on what needs to be done for the citizens. There is no ego, no self-aggrandizement, no dissatisfaction. It is thoroughly imbued with notions of service and work, and is almost exclusively concerned with foresight and policy.
That’s why I respect Chairman Johnson. For him, all this is for the betterment of the state, the people and its representatives, and not for the sake of making himself or them more important or richer.
The choice before the House Republican conference is clear.
Michael McKenna served as deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs during the Trump administration. He also served in the Bush and Reagan administrations.
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