This lifelong Democrat read, with great sadness, that American’s last good Republican senator announced his retirement from politics. In print interviews, and excerpts from a forthcoming biography, Sen. Mitt Romney opined about how his party has become philosophically unmoored. In his words, “the Republican Party today is in the shadow of Donald Trump.” Democracy, like all things bright and beautiful, withers in the shadows.
Holding Mr. Romney up to his conference peers on matters of national importance offers stark contrasts. Take impeachment and healthcare.
Romney was the only one of his colleagues to vote to impeach President Trump in 2020. Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins, meanwhile, told Mainers she hoped that the demagogic 45th president had “learned his lesson” and voted to acquit Trump. Sen. Collins was deadly wrong: 11 months later, some of her constituents joined others in storming the Capitol. Years earlier, in bright blue Massachusetts, Republican Gov. Romney built a state-run health care program (Gasp! Socialism!). Sen. Collins voted against the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Mr. Romney, the lone remaining independent and rational voice in the Senate GOP, will be sorely missed. One can only hope that Sen. Collins follows suit and announces her exit from the Senate in 2026. Thirty years of equivocation and both-sides-ism is enough.
Chris Indorf
Saco
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