You probably have noticed that there are crises everywhere you turn these days. Wars and rumors of wars, fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Apparently the US House of Representatives missed the memos.

At a time when the world needs leadership, America’s Congressmen are staring at their navels and playing political games.

Such things aren’t uncommon in world affairs. Belgium’s record for not having a government is almost 600 days. That speaks to the problem of a multi-party democracy with a split election result. Sometimes it is hard to form a governing coalition. Israel faces similar challenges – and some would argue the latest coalition has contributed to the current conflict.

But the US only has two parties in Congress. That their legislature is so frequently dysfunctional (which seems to be increasingly almost the norm in the past couple of decades) should be a national embarrassment. Instead of debating the US response to the wars in the Middle East or Ukraine, the Representatives are sniping at each other and failing to accomplish the simple task of electing a Speaker.

Is this leadership? Is this what the American people want? What does this say about the future of American democracy?

The Speaker stepped down. Twenty days later there is no replacement. The House can’t conduct its business until a new Speaker is elected, but so far none of the proposed candidates have been able to muster the necessary support.

The Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons stepped down a week before Kevin McCarthy did the same thing in the US. The House can’t sit without a Speaker – but that didn’t cause a government shutdown. The rules were examined, and the House was able to sit under an interim Speaker for a few days before the vote was held.

About that vote. It was a secret ballot and took a while for everyone to mark their ballot, but there was never any doubt that a Speaker would be elected that day. Canada uses a ranked ballot for such events. You mark your preferences in order, and the ballots of whomever gets the fewest votes on the first tally are then redistributed according to those voters’ second choice. The process continues until one candidate has a majority.

In a worst case scenario that could take a couple of hours, but there is no way the House could be shut down for weeks.

As the US House tries again Monday to choose a Speaker, with no guarantees of success, maybe they should be looking to the north for an example of how it should be done.