My husband and I are retired teachers. Last week’s chaotic election of Speaker of the House of Representatives left us shaking our heads. Rep. Kevin McCarthy won his gavel by ceding all the authority of that position to the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. That 5% of the House is the “grownup” version of the kid in the back row cheating, making rude noises, and shouting, “Anarchy!”

Skilled teachers find ways to engage reluctant students, but Speaker McCarthy doesn’t have that skill: he simply capitulated to those who don’t respect government. The 20 holdouts are 2020 election deniers and conspiracy theorists. Their demands weren’t about governing, but about power for their extremist minority. They wanted control of the Rules Committee that directs the flow of (or blocks) major legislation, limits debate, and decides what the full House votes on. They wanted to challenge McCarthy’s Speakership on a single Representative’s whim. They got both.

This isn’t leadership. It’s like a teacher letting that disruptive student decide the course curriculum, and agreeing to be locked in the broom closet now and then, in exchange for his paycheck and getting to hold the pointer.

We’re all stuck with a House defined by the most radical, undisciplined minority for now, and we can be assured the adolescent-leaning “beer caucus” in the NH House is taking notes. But in two years we can elect Representatives at all levels who respect government and the rule of law, and represent the best of who we are.