In U.S. political debate, who is the majority leader? That’s a question most frequently asked by those who are passionate about politics and who want their elected official to be one. Most assume that the answer to this question is clear, and that there is no middle ground. But that’s just not true.
In U.S. government, the Majority Floor Leader is usually a member of the minority party in a legislative body. If there are two or more vacancies for a particular seat, the Majority Floor Leader is usually one of the two candidates who have gained the most votes during the election. Once the seat becomes vacant, the incumbent may become the Majority Floor Leader. The concept of Majority Leader is derived from the “brass” in brass-pot polo shirts. A brass-pot is an ornament that has the head of a coin or a small brass animal and usually has strings attached to it to “stretch.”
In our new system for selecting the Majority Leader, there are presently six members of the Senate and twenty-four members of the House. Two members are always non-senators. Therefore, if there were no majority leader, there would be two parties in the United States Senate and House, with one governing the country through a minority leader. That makes the system very complicated, and if we had a single governing party, things might be simpler.
For example, if John McCain (R-AZ) is the Majority Leader, then he will be the minority whip. Or if Ted Cruz (R TX) is the minority whip, then he will be the majority leader. But if Marco Rubio (R FL) is the Majority Leader, then he will be the junior whip. If somehow, someway, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is the Majority Leader, she will be the minority whip.
If you read the U.S. Constitution carefully, you will see that there are two types of votes in the Senate: voting by states and voting by the whole chamber. In the first case, there are no rules. Any member may propose any motion in the Senate. The only rule in this case is that a majority of members present and concur with the proposal. Thus, if there are twenty-one members, no single member can propose a motion to remove a member from their position.
However, in the second situation, when a majority of states call for a new election, then the members need to show up. But, how do you know which forty members are the “yes” and which forty members are the “no”?” This is where the idea of “ballot voting,” comes into play. In the Democratic presidential primary in Florida in February of 2021, there were a lot of debates about who was going to be the Democratic candidate and who was going to be the nominee. There were many people who believed that Hillary Clinton was the nominee and that Barack Obama was not a viable option for president.
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and then Barack Obama was chosen as the Democratic candidate. The Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination and Barack Obama as the vice president. After the election, there was quite a furor among some Republicans and some Democrats who felt that the Obama administration had sold out to the Democrats and they were now no longer true Democrats. Many citizens of Kansas, Nebraska and Maine voted against these moves. Barack Obama won re-election to serve as the United States Senator from Illinois.
The Democrats have moved away from their original roots and now they are the minority party in both houses of Congress and the Senate. Does this mean that the United States is not a democracy? No, it does not mean that the United States is no longer a capitalist country. The United States has always been a representative of the people through the representative system of a proportional representation. One can quibble over how the Constitution was adopted or who was the true framer of the Constitution. But the bottom line is that a two-party system gives each of the major political parties with a legitimate opportunity to govern and pass legislation.