The Resistance should reward Susan Collins

Raj Grewal
Jul 30, 2017 · 2 min read

Let’s be clear who broke the Republican Party’s most recent, tragicomic attempt to repeal Obamacare. Hint: it wasn’t attention-seeking cynic Rand Paul. No, the Affordable Care Act needed a Republican moderate with some spine to save it. And while Johnny Mac pulled off a wonderfully choreographed (and genuinely commendable) “fuck you” to McConnell and Trump, two other senators had to first withstand grotesque intimidation and intense pressure from their own party’s president and leadership so the Mac Attack could have his moment to shine.

One of them was Senator Susan Collins of Maine, whose role in destroying BCRA (and ORRA, and “skinny repeal”, and whatever other crap Republicans tried to pass) Josh Marshall captures perfectly:

“…Collins is really the stand out here. Collins made clear pretty much from the beginning of this latest process that her vote was not available at all…She was matched with Paul and Heller at one point and finally with Murkowski and McCain. But she was there throughout… Collins was the lever making pressure on others possible…”

Yes. Thank you, Susan Collins.

Some Resisters may say we oughtn’t reward Republicans for simply doing their duty, and I have some sympathy with that given the current state of the Republican Party. Democrats did a stand-up job defending the ACA after all (and you should definitely reward them too). If Democrats hadn’t effectively organized against Trumpcare, and provided the vast majority of votes against it, Sen. Collins wouldn’t have had her time in the limelight either.

However, despite what self-satisfied centrists may congratulate themselves for writing, the United States is, pretty much always was, and probably always will be, a two-party country. In fact, even many multi-party democracies frequently elect one of two parties — in Britain, Tories/Labor; in India, BJP/Congress; in Germany, Social/Christian Democrats, and so on. That’s because a lot of issues really are binary: Should government spend more or less on food assistance? Should it increase or decrease carbon regulation? Should abortion be legal or illegal?

So the Republican Party isn’t going anywhere, or if it is, it might be replaced by an even further right party as in Hungary. Cleaning up America after the mess Trump creates will probably require reaching out to good Republicans. Besides, Senator Collins has opposed dumb GOP attempts to repeal Obamacare since 2015. And she may soon run for governor of Maine, where she’d replace the odious, somehow-worse-than-Trump Paul LePage.

For my part, I’ll probably throw Susie a fiver. It’ll be my first, and perhaps only, donation to a Republican.

Stay strong, resisters!

Nice work, Susie