MAR 2023 Last week, on Jan. 26 and 27, Greenwich High School welcomed Micheal Garman, Holden Culotta, Will Conway, and Laura Del Savio to speak about our government and political system. From this presentation, students were inspired to take advantage of opportunities and increase civic engagement within both the federal and state governments. This presentation conveyed how dialogue can be used to unify and educate students about possible voting reforms, specifically ranked-choice voting. This process consists of choosing first and second choices to satisfy more voters.

Students also learned about the opposing Democratic and Republican parties' core political beliefs that often divide Americans. Presenters heightened student thinking by providing possibilities and outcomes that accompany this imbalance. All of these elements worked to make the learning experience all the more powerful. We would love to give a special thanks to the Student Policy Initiative Club for organizing this special presentation. Without the works of Hanna Klingbeil and the club, GHS would not have received the incredible opportunity to meet and learn from these speakers.

MAR 2023 After a historic 15 rounds of voting, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy finally won the majority vote to become the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives. This year, the road to becoming House speaker proved to be especially difficult, being the first since 1923 to have required multiple rounds of voting. While McCarthy prevailed in the end, it was not without considerable negotiation and fierce opposition from a faction of 20 ultraconservatives.

The results of the 2022 midterm election left Republicans with a thin majority in the House. The 118th Congress consists of 222 Republicans and 212 Democrats, meaning that to have a majority, Republicans need to vote almost unanimously. To become house speaker, a representative must receive at least 218 votes, something that McCarthy struggled to achieve. Ballots showed that for the majority of voting rounds, the 212 Democrats all voted for minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, while Republicans were split, with just over 200 voting for McCarthy and around 20 voting for Byron Donalds (representative for Florida's 19th congressional district). Meaning that at first, Jeffries unexpectedly received more votes than McCarthy. However, by the 13th round, the balance started to even out as more people but is now overrun with corruption. Politicians are more focused on winning their next  issue of a severely divided Washington. Today's political climate is no longer about respecting tradition and protocol; instead, cutthroat competition, exacerbated by social media and biased election than actually making a difference and helping their own people. Decorum is nonexistent. And our most beloved democratic ideals, once tightly knitted into the fabric of American politics, are rapidly unfurling.

To become elected, McCarthy was forced to make several concessions labeled the "house rules package" with the conservative representatives. One of the most significant concessions was a restoration of the motion to vacate the chair. This motion is a parliamentary procedure that allows a member of the House to prompt a vote to remove the house speaker. Another concession in the package was the reinstating of the "Holman Rule." This rule authorizes amendments to appropriations legislation that could reduce the salary of or fire certain federal employees or drop a specific program. McCarthy also agreed to a 72-hour publication of bills policy, which requires the final version of all bills to be made public 72 hours before they are brought to vote on the House floor. It remains to be seen how the House will be able to fulfill its basic functions, handicapped by these concessions.

The house speaker drama represents the greater news outlets, has become the norm. Junior congressmen no longer defer to senior congressmen, and many have no real agendas, focusing instead on surrounding themselves in controversy and blowing things up. The United States government was founded on the principle idea of being for and by the people but is now overrun with corruption. Politicians are more focused on winning their next election than actually making a difference and helping their own people. Decorum is nonexistent. And our most beloved democratic ideals, once tightly knitted into the fabric of American politics, are rapidly unfurling.

MAR 2023 Liz Truss, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, had just resigned from being Prime Minister after serving for 45 days. This set the record for the shortest reigning Prime Minister in all of the UK's history. In her statement outside of her Downing Street office, she says she "cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party." Her economic reasons were the main reason why she was deserted by her party, the Conservatives, and resigned from office. Her policy plan, which got her elected by the Conservative party, was a failure in practice. Her plan for low taxes and regulation lead to more inflation and less economic growth. In fact, the value of the pound decreased to the point the Bank of England had to intervene. Although the intervention stopped this issue from spreading, it put the pension funds at risk. The United Kingdom is no stranger to struggle since they broke away from the European Union (EU), but Liz Truss left a nation with a high cost of living crisis and a looming recession. Not only this, the Conservative party is as divided as ever. The party is full of factions like the Hard Right Brexiteers and the One Nation Tories. The conservative party needs a prime minister who will bring unity to the highly contentious political party. Believe it or not, this event is connected to a popular course at Greenwich High School called AP Comparative Politics (it is joint with AP US Government). I've talked since with Mr. Murphy, a teacher of this course (he is very passionate about it), to get his perspective on the issue.

From the American point of view, the many resignations of elected leaders are baffling. Especially when the last resignation of our president was in 1974 with President Nixon. Although this is the first time in a while this is happening in the UK, the political system they have lends itself to this. According to Mr. Murphy, the people of the UK don't elect their officials, but the party. The prime minister is the "first among equals" and must win a seat in the House of Commons, which is the lower legislative chamber. The prime minister leads the majority party, which can lead to issues if they upset his or her party. "This is the reason why so many people resign," remarked Mr. Murphy, "because if the party doesn't like you, it's hard to move forward." Now that the Fix-Term Parliaments Act, an act that requires, every 5 years, the House of Commons to elect a new prime minister, the House of Commons can call an election, in which the Monarch can dissolve the parliament and call for election. This is the reason,  according to Mr. Murphy, why so many resignations are happening in a span of a couple of months.

Miriam Cates, a conservative lawmaker, said about Liz Truss: "It's time for the Prime Minister to go." I asked Mr. Murphy if he agrees with this comment, considering all that is going on. He agrees, saying that if the prime minister loses the trust of the party, by definition she cannot serve as prime minister. He also told me that in the AP curriculum, having trust in the prime minister is important in a Parliamentary system, which is the governmental structure of the UK. In a Parliamentary system, a majority is needed for someone to rule. If the prime minister loses the majority, the person can't serve as Prime Minister. This brings to light more of why Liz Truss has to resign. 

Mr. Murphy and I discussed what the United Kingdom should do on a governmental scale in order for this to not happen as often. He recommends that the party should pick a leader that is "less polarizingand more competent". Especially dealing with the effects of the British exit from the European Union (Brexit) is quite complex. "Brexit revealed a lot of the potential for instability", said Mr. Murphy, "but it's important to know that they are still a functioning democracy." The new UK prime Minister is Rishi Sunak. We are yet to see how he'll  do as Prime Minister with the increasing polarization and factions in the Conservative Party.