Maines “Moderate” Republicans
I have received a great deal of emails and comments from various postings of my articles on Senators Snowe and Collins. Most of these messages have been from Maine residents who have berated me for not understanding the dynamics of Maine politics. Each and every comment has included the phrase “moderate republican” when addressing Snowe and Collins support of the Baucus health care bill.
The intention of both articles was to point out how both Sen. Collins and Sen. Snowe are not acting like Republicans. Moderate has nothing to do with their support of Obamacare. Moderate, like liberal and conservative, are social or fiscal models within the two major political parties, Republicans and Democrats. While these social or fiscal models typically align with one ideology or another, there are clear lines that differentiate the various political and social systems.
In saying that, Senator’s Snowe and Collins are not Republicans, no one who votes for such massive government spending and expansion can call themselves Republican. While I believe, in the end, that no true Republican can be anything other than conservative in their social beliefs, it is a fact that there are moderate Republicans, even liberal ones. Still, they all share a belief in Small federal government, a strong state’s rights. They might disagree on abortion rights or other moral issues but the core Republican belief in small government cannot be ignored as criteria for a Republican politician. Trillions of dollars in federal spending, nationalization of banks and the auto industry do not scream Republican but Democrat.
Senator’s Snowe and Collins are not Republicans, moderate Republicans or liberal Republicans (how this works is beyond me), they are left of center Democrats, who support large centralized government and control of the people through control of their lives.
