Recently, long-time U.S. Senator from Indiana Richard Lugar was defeated in the Republican primary by Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. The consensus is that Lugar lost because of three factors. The first factor is that he was not “conservative” enough compared to Mourdock and the GOP in recent years has seen a growing influence of hardcore anti-tax conservatives who do not tolerate some of Lugar’s past votes. The second factor is that he is not angry enough for an angry, frustrated GOP base that sees gentility and civility in Washington as undesirable, negative traits that lead to compromise which they believe damages the country.* The third factor is that Lugar has grown out of touch with Indiana as his permanent home is in McLean, VA and he rents a hotel room in the limited occasions when he makes it back to Indiana.
(* “Lugar,…is a gentleman of the old school,…correctly identifying Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) as a member of the Democratic, rather than “Democrat,” Party. At a time when Republicans routinely insist on denying Democrats that courtesy, hearing the proper usage from a Republican’s lips is a reminder of how unusual it has become.” – Excerpted from Henneberger, Melinda. (April 9, 2012). “Richard Lugar: Too mild to be memorable?” The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dick-lugar-too-mild-to-be-memorable/2012/04/09/gIQASHKL6S_story.html)
While I am disappointed that Lugar expectedly lost based on the first two factors, I totally agree that Lugar should have lost on the third factor. No federal elected official should ever get elected just to never come back to the state. Yet, I can’t fully blame Lugar for his decision to make his permanent home in the DC metropolitan area. As a proud resident of the DMV, I think no other vacation place in the world compares to DC, Maryland, and Virginia!
What I really want to emphasize however in a limited defense of Lugar, is that Congress has become a full-time job. That has made purchasing property in the DC metropolitan area a practical idea for many House and Senate members. Congress should not be a full time job.
The Maryland General Assembly and Virginia General Assembly have part-time legislatures. Nobody expects the Delegates and Senators of the great state of Maryland and the great Commonwealth of Virginia to settle down in Annapolis and Richmond. Why then, do we elect U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators to send them to Washington only to have them never come back?
Most of the federal legislators who still maintain an actual residence in their home states only use it as a weekend residence because they are in Washington for the majority of the year. They burn taxpayer dollars and add to environmental waste by flying home every weekend to remind people that they are still around so that the people will remember that come reelection time. Yet, even during the Congressional recess, some of the Members hang around Washington just to hit the political cocktail circuit to raise money and their own profile for Party favors and future electoral bids.
The glitz and glamour of Washington is intoxicating. As if power alone was not intoxicating enough, Washington is the east coast Hollywood thanks to 24-hour cable news. This is a problem that affects both Democrats and Republicans and it must stop. Making Congress part-time will help in that effort.
That said, even though Lugar submitted to the realities, practicalities, and luxuries of life in Washington, he had no excuse to fall out of touch with Indiana. He acted more like an aloof policy wonk at a think tank than as an approachable public servant attuned to the needs and desires of his constituency. His supporters regard him as a statesman. That, he may be. Lugar has certainly carried himself with class and dignity. However, he is now a statesman about to lose his job.
Lugar’s critics say that Lugar will now get to go home to…Virginia. That is true. Lugar gets to join many of his former colleagues who never went home once they came to Washington like Speaker Bob Livingston (R-Alexandria, VA), Senator Rick Santorum (R-Great Falls, VA), Senator Fred Thompson (R-McLean, VA), Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-McLean, VA), and Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-McLean, VA).
Keep in mind that I am a proud resident of the DMV, the greatest region in the entire world, so I don’t blame them one bit for wanting to stay. Welcome to DC. We ain’t going nowhere. Lugar might even get a job with a conservative foreign policy think tank which would be right up his alley. His lifestyle and standard of living will not change one bit so no one should feel sorry for him.
I agree that Richard Lugar deserved to lose his Senate seat because he fell out of touch with the state he represented. That is why I have supported Joe Donnelly for U.S. Senate (D-IN) from the beginning, long before the Indiana GOP primary was decided.
Congressman Joe Donnelly, a moderate Democrat who is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate and conservative Democrats, is the type of leader the U.S. Senate needs and he is also the type of leader the Democratic Party needs. Much has been written about how liberal and moderate voices have been purged from the Republican Party, but very little coverage has been given to the purging of conservative and moderate voices in the Democratic Party at the same rate. The “purification” of both parties has increased polarization in American politics.
Over the past eight years, the number of Blue Dog Democrats holding office have greatly declined at the national level. There was a brief spike in 2006, the year Joe Donnelly was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. That year also produced Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC) and these newly elected Blue Dogs joined established Blue Dogs like Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), Charlie Melacon (D-LA), Joe Baca (D-CA), and John Tanner (D-TN) to craft responsible budgets, address skyrocketing debt, and foster job creation. These Blue Dogs also tended to lean pro-life, but because they were far removed from the likes of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Tony Perkins who have all damaged the Republican brand on this complicated issue, these Blue Dog Democrats were able to more effectively, thoughtfully, respectfully, and humbly address this issue and craft pragmatic solutions.
Unfortunately, once the Democratic Party gained control of Washington, they swung hard left and left many Blue Dog Democrats stranded. As a result, many Blue Dog Democrats lost their seats in 2010 to Republicans and several prominent Blue Dog Democrats have already announced their retirements in 2012 due to many factors including Republican partisan redistricting designed to pick off moderate Democrats and a Democratic Party that is unenthused about protecting them.
I have a long history of being a Blue Dog Democrat. I am dismayed by the widening divide and polarization that has affected American politics in recent years. Solutions-oriented, pragmatic voices in the middle and even some pragmatists of more left-wing and right-wing persuasion have been forced out of both the Democratic and Republican parties in favor of ideological firebrands who refuse to concede an inch and regard their political opponents as dangerous enemies instead of loyal compatriots of a different school of thought. Often, the rhetoric so stirs the passions of the base that they become blind to the actual reality.
The perfect illustration lies in Rick Santorum. Like Richard Lugar, Santorum was an out of touch politician with residency issues. He moved to Great Falls, VA and never looked back once he settled in the ways of Washington. He was also a “big government conservative” just like Mitt Romney (Not that there is anything wrong with that…I ain’t going to judge.), but he was able to be Romney’s fiercest challenger because he knew how to talk like Rush Limbaugh and inflame the passions of the anti-tax, hardcore conservative base.
The people are not 100% blameless in the problems that affect Washington and the nation either. They are the ones who elect their leaders. Yet, time and again, we see that people vote for officials not based on their accomplishments and potential for success in office, but based on how well they deliver a fiery sermon espousing hard-right conservative or hard-left progressive values on the stump.
That Richard Lugar was President Barack Obama’s “favorite Republican” is not and should not be a bad thing. We cannot solve complicated problems by insulting and antagonizing others and by being repulsive individuals. Sadly, there are many Republicans these days who welcome liberal disapproval of not just their policies, but of who they are because they believe that there must be something wrong with them if the other side likes them. It is as if liberal hatred of them validates their conservative bonafides and liberal approval makes them failures.
Hate is wrong. It is wrong when liberals hate conservatives and vice-versa. It is wrong when in the face of hate, liberals and conservatives use the opportunity to raise money instead of setting a good example for the youth by reaching out and being the better person.
This is why so many people, especially young people, are disengaged and disinterested in government and the political process. People just want to get stuff done regardless of party label and ideology.
So people will not misinterpret me, I strongly believe that there is a place in the political discourse for pure progressive values and for pure conservative values. I support Hillary Clinton and I support Sarah Palin. I have voted for such ideologically pure candidates on the left and the right in the past and may continue to do so if I like the individual.
Progressive voices and conservative voices must also be augmented by voices of more centrist persuasion. I don’t want one-party rule at any level of government. This is a diverse nation and no one individual can fully understand and appreciate what it means to be an American of a different background. We need people of different backgrounds and different ideologies learning from one another and working together for a stronger America.
There is a benefit to having an open marketplace of ideas in society and in government. If the progressive and conservative voices (and even moderate voices, who can be every bit as dogmatic as the left and the right) would actually talk to one another instead of finding new ways to defeat them, we might begin to solve the numerous problems that affect this nation and return to the path of protecting and expanding liberty and restoring decency, honor, and respect.
There is value in ideological diversity in Congress. There is also value in ideological diversity within the political parties themselves. If we want to break the polarization that paralyzes this country, we must be willing to evaluate candidates on a case-by-case basis and elevate leaders who can bring ideological diversity within their own parties to foster cooperation even if it means your own political party loses in the process. Dilute the ideological stranglehold of both parties and you will purify the nation.
I support Joe Donnelly for U.S. Senate because he is the right person for the job and will work with all sides to find solutions.
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