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OPINION

Big Majority or Slim Majority, the Size of the Gavel Is the Same

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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I know there's a lot of angst out there because the red wave wasn't as big as we were promised, and I know a lot of you want to blame the leadership in the House or the leadership in the Senate or the Chairman of the RNC or Donald Trump or Rick Scott or really anybody but your favorite, loveable team of commentators here at Townhall.

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I know your instinct is to be angry because you wanted a 40-seat majority in the House, and I know the fact that Republican governors had a clean sweep doesn't assuage that anger. 

And I know that Ron DeSantis winning a stunning supermajority in the state of Florida, thus basically removing that state from competition in the upcoming electoral college presidential contest, is not enough to make you feel satisfied.

And I suspect that the fact the "Three Stooges," Stacey Abrams, Beto O'Rourke, and Charlie Crist, were humiliated beyond any point of recognition and to such a diminished level that they probably can never run for political office again doesn't bring enough joy to offset your anger over the Republicans performance in congressional races.

But let me attempt to offer some positive political analysis as a cool glass of water amidst this vast parched desert of angry recriminations and finger-pointing we currently find ourselves living in.

The fact is that when all is said and done, the Republicans will have a majority in the House of Representatives. It might be a small majority, but it will be a majority nonetheless.

And the fact of the matter is the gavel that comes with the powers of the Speaker of the House is the same size whether you have a one-seat majority or a 50-seat majority.

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And whoever ends up being the Speaker of the House for the Republicans starting in January 2023 will have incredibly significant and important power.

In fact, I would argue that the most important power the new Republican majority will have will not in any way be hindered by having a slim majority versus having a red tsunami majority.

The most important power Republicans in the House will have is to just say no to Joe Biden. And that doesn't take much of a majority at all.

I know you're smart, so I know you already know this, but maybe reading it, thinking about it, and meditating on it will make you less hostile to the fact that Tuesday didn't go as well as you were hoping it would go.

You see, even if Republicans had won with the best majority anyone could have hoped for this Tuesday… as long as Joe Biden is president of the United States, there's not a whole lot Republicans can do. 

This is the system our Founders gave us. You could have a 40-seat majority in the house and a five-seat majority in the Senate (which would have been an absolute blowout on Tuesday), but you don't have a president in the White House who will sign your bill into law, you have nothing.

So what is this Republican majority left to do? What power do they have? 

It's very simple…they can put an immediate halt to Joe Biden's destructive legislative agenda that was bringing this country to ruin. Just saying no is doing something incredible. 

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They can also set the schedule, agenda, and priorities for legislation coming out of the House. It may die in the Senate or at the White House, but at least they can pass bills that would let the American people know what they stand for.

They also have control over the committee chairmen and the agenda for those committees, including as many investigative hearings as they want.

Joe Biden's military disaster in Afghanistan can now be investigated. His use of the Justice Department and the FBI for political purposes can now be investigated. The origins of COVID-19, what the federal government knew about it, and what they lied about can now be investigated.

They can accomplish all of that with just a one-seat majority. 

I know you wanted more. I know you think you deserved more. I know you think you should have gotten more. I know that the media basically told you you were going to get more…and after all, when has the media ever led us astray?

But if you look at the reality of our Constitution and the separation of powers and realize that as long as that doddering, leftist fool is sitting in the Oval Office, he's not going to sign anything that Republicans are going to pass out of the House and the Senate, then you could tap the brakes a bit and realize that a big majority this week would have been wasted for the next two years.

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Biden is now going to be stopped by this new Republican House and possibly the Republican Senate. That is huge. That is wonderful. And after the two years of living hell our country has endured, it's more than enough.

Be happy... at least for a moment about that. 

And then, tomorrow, get right back to being angry at Republicans. Because unless they know you're mad, they won't do any of the things I just told you they were going to do.

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