After a (far too) long break between posts, it seems we ought to conclude the current question for the time being. We may decide to return to parts of it later, if our interest in the topic is rekindled, particularly to actually produce a ranking of some set of the House Speakers. But for now, […]

Evaluating the effectiveness of Speakers requires us to take long trips back through history. Back to the late 1700s and the first Congresses and there difficult days of learning to govern our unique country. To Henry Clay and the evolution of the role of Speaker as a chief political leader for both Congress and the […]

Michel gave his thoughts earlier on developing rankings of some ways we may use to evaluate which Speakers wielded the most power.  For me, it’s not just about having and using power, it’s just as important to use the power effectively.  Speakers that merely attempt to control the actions of the other Representatives in the […]

Research is the driver behind learning about any new topic.  When you don’t know anything, you have to go out and find the information on your own.  It’s an adventure you take to discover something new. It’s a powerful process once you get into it for something that you choose to do it for.  Everyone […]

The Speaker of the House is second in line for the Presidency but often seems to be overlooked by the general public.  Speakers are selected every 2 years by the majority party in the House of Representatives.  Generally, their role is administrative and their power is derived from their ability to control the flow of […]

We’re proposing to measure and rank the relative influence of each Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to develop so-called “Power Rankings” for this critical position near the top of the United States government’s power structure. As I started collecting data, I hit one of the key questions that we need to answer if […]

Our inaugural question here at Motivating Questions!  (Don’t worry, the main focus won’t typically be on politics). With the focus these days on political effectiveness it’s important to put things in perspective at times.  The charge of Congressional ineffectiveness has been leveled just about every year since the very first Congress.  With some big bills […]