A conflict of interest exists in the role of Speaker of the House of Representatives. One the one hand, the Speaker sets the legislative agenda of the political party with majority representation in the House of Representatives. On the other hand, the Speaker represents his/her local congressional district, the boundary of which could be manipulated every 10 years per the census to give his/her party a political edge in representing said district. This is one conflict of interest. Another is that the Speaker is not accountable to the will of the nation, just to the will of his/her local district. We don't tolerate senators being appointed by state legislatures or governors? Why do we continue to tolerate there being no direct national say in who the Speaker is?
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