America benefits by having two strong political parties, which understand that compromise is part of politics, and that “crossing the aisle” to work with the opposition party is not treason!
Unfortunately, with the rise of the Tea Party Movement, the Republican Party has been radicalized to the far right, unwilling to accept any Republican who does not follow the extremist agenda of the Tea Party Movement.
Therefore, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Richard Lugar of Indiana are all facing likely challenges in the primaries in 2012, when they all have a difficult re-election contest for their Senate seats.
The one who seems the most endangered is Lugar, truly one of the rare gems of the Senate.
Lugar is certainly a conservative, but he is a “respectable” conservative willing to cross the aisle and work with Democrats.
Acknowledged as a true expert on American foreign policy, and as a thoughtful individual, the author has always had respect for Senator Lugar, and he is well regarded by his own colleagues, and has often been seen as a potential Secretary of State.
Lugar cooperated with Barack Obama in the Senate on various issues, and just recently, he supported the DREAM Act, the START Treaty with Russia, and voted for both of Obama’s Supreme Court nominees–Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
For this, he has been condemned by Tea Party activists in Indiana, admittedly a state which is much more conservative traditionally than other Midwestern states.
So it seems clear Lugar will have a major primary challenge and might lose his seat, which would be a tremendous loss for his party and the Senate’s reputation.
We need more Richard Lugars in the Senate, if that body is to retain an image of being a serious minded, respectable institution. There are too many firebrand extremists in that legislative body, embarrassing the Republican Party and insuring deadlock and stalemate.
This is a fine example as to the true nature of the Tea Party. The movement is made up entirely of ideologues, with no practical sense of governance, driven only by uncompromising opposition to federal authority and TAXES. Several senators are targeted, including the moderate senator from Indiana. The fact that they are also targeting Ben Nelson of Nebraska for defeat, as though he is a liberal activist, is proof that any level of disagreement makes you an enemy of this group, and consequentially an enemy of the United States and the Constitution in their eyes. Such radicalism has its moments of intensity, but will hopefully be short lived.