The United States experienced some unprecedented events recently, leaving us to wander into previously unexplored territory in our government and our world in relation to politics. From how the U.S. relates to the recent resurrection of war in Israel to Kevin McCarthy losing his position as Speaker of the House, a lot of things are happening in America and all around the world. Let’s take a look at some major events and what they’re all about.
America and the Israel and Palestine conflict
America has a long history of involvement in the ongoing Israel and Palestine conflict in the Middle East. The U.S. administration has proposed ways for possible peace between rivals, the most popular of which is the two-state solution. This, as one can imagine, is a solution in which Israel and Palestine each receive a portion of land, and the country is broken up into two ‘states’. This widely accepted idea was limited by former President Trump through some of his policies regarding the conflict. President Biden reversed some of these policies and supported this solution. Since the attacks, general violence has been at an all-time high since the 2005 Palestinian uprisings, most notably the Second Intifada. The United States continues to give military aid to Israel to help defend itself from further attacks. The U.S. has also increased its presence in Israel in an attempt to deter aggression and escalation of the war. In America, this conflict is of most interest to the American Jewish community and Christian Evangelicals, an unlikely duo, who both stand in support of Israel.
Another world update that greatly impacts anyone currently living on planet Earth is climate Change. According to the United Nations panel, the upcoming decade is very important in halting, and hopefully reversing, the effects of climate change. In order to do this, however, it will take billions of dollars and a lot of big corporations changing a lot of their practices to be more eco-friendly.
Back to America. The race for the Republican nominee is certainly interesting. There are many candidates in the running, but few appear prominently in the polls. Trump is leading currently by a large majority, followed by Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tin Scott. If Trump were to get the nomination, it would be an unprecedented moment in history. Never has a convicted felon run for president or for any nomination. There is no rule about it in the Constitution, so this is uncharted territory for American politics. It will be very interesting to see how the vote plays out, and what sort of a precedent it sets for the future.
Speaking of unprecedented events in our government, former speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy was voted out of office on October 23, 2023. This is the first time in history the Speaker of the House has been completely vacated from office. This threw the Republican leadership in the house into chaos. This has stopped the House of Representatives from doing their job until they can elect a new leader. Normally, a person of higher authority would take over the position such as majority Leader Steve Scalise. Scalise is, however, currently battling cancer. Other options such as majority whip Tom Emmer would not be able to secure the votes. Patrick McHenry is currently serving as a placeholder for McCarthy but he’s just that, a placeholder. McHenry doesn’t have the same power as an elected Speaker of the House, so no real work can be done currently. Ultimately McCarthy sealed his own fate by agreeing to a rule change that allowed any single lawmaker to file a motion to vacate the Speaker. This, in combination with his decision to work with Democrats in a bipartisan effort to avoid a total government shutdown, got him voted out of office.
All in all, the current United States political landscape is uncharted. There are a lot of things happening that have never happened before. This means that there will be a lot of learning in our government, and hopefully this will lead to a better understanding of all the possible situations that could disrupt the normalcy that we were used to.
