The end of an era. And this is not your father’s Republican party.

I’ve long considered Indiana senator Richard Lugar, who served six terms, to be reasonable, moderate, cooperative, decent, and willing to “govern.”  When Obama won that state in 2008, I was shocked and more shocked about that win than South Carolina or Virginia.  They said the president “reshaped the electoral map” back then.  But what’s the matter with Kansas Indiana today?

With Dick Lugar’s defeat, in a recent primary no less, politics becomes significantly more cynical and unrewarding to independents and mavericks, and this is a trend we should be aware of and ready to push back on.  We should address it and the rationale behind it forthrightly and maturely.  Senator Lugar was defeated because he cooperated with the president, even though the president was trying to stave off a depression, among other pressing issues, and still is.   It’s a disturbing trend lately that representatives are punished for governing responsibly rather than selfishly or serving their corporate masters.

This coming election is the most crucial election in my lifetime, and there have been many presidents who have held that office in my lifetime.  If a Republican wins, it will be worse than when Reagan held the office, despite the fact that Reagan made education more costly and less accessible (and we see the effects of that today), and even despite the fact that Reagan, in the words of Hillary, “made it okay not to care about each other.”  Too many Republicans have become more pernicious, more dastardly, and more craven than ever before and they are more willing to be so publicly, making no bones about it.

Sen. Lugar’s defeat signals danger, that compromising, cooperating, and respecting your opponent will not be tolerated.  His defeat is a clear signal to other moderate conservatives that if you govern moderately, you will be punished.  That’s not good for our democracy.  Our democracy depends on open, honest debate, but the corrosive, corrupting effect of money has changed that.  Money and a largely uninformed electorate spells trouble, and we should be willing to fight against the polarizing trends. 

Dick Lugar is an intelligent, decent, soft-spoken foreign policy expert who served his state and his country honorably.  If he hadn’t served honorably or if he had been tarnished by scandal or was out of step with moderate voters in his state, one might better understand his ouster, but the fact is, until recently he was well-loved and well-respected by his constituents and colleagues.  Unfortunately, low-information voters are easily influenced by clever, costly advertisements and attacks whether true or not, and the money spent on Lugar’s opponent’s campaign (an opponent who is, as they say, a real piece of work) was money well spent, again, unfortunately.

If people want to criticize Obama for walking a conservative line, it may be because he has a more clear-eyed view of American voters than you or I.  If the president plans to get anything substantively and long-lasting done, he must be re-elected, and to be re-elected in this country, he has to walk a fine line, because in this country, if you try to govern like a moderate or, god forbid, an independent statesman, you will be punished.  (We’ll see how badly he’s punished (or rewarded) for his support of marriage equality for all people.)

So they cast aside Dick Lugar as part of a hyper-partisan cleansing of the party, but a cleansing of what?  Corruption?  On the contrary. 

It’s a clear message to others:  If you’re going to govern moderately, beware.

To make matters worse, Richard Mourdock, the man who beat Richard Lugar for the Indiana senate seat, for sixteen years served as vice president of a coal subsidiary of Standard Oil Company, and eventually became vice president of Business Development for that company, so who’s he in the pocket of?  Mourdock's campaign criticized Lugar's willingness to work with Democratic lawmakers, and Mourdock himself rejected bipartisanship, arguing that "the most powerful people in both parties are so opposed to one another that one side simply has to win out over the other.”

Mourdock was endorsed by several conservative interest groups, including The Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Citizens United, and the Tea Party Express.  If you’re not familiar with the Club for Growth or FreedomWorks, they’re the modern-day John Birch Society.  If you’re not familiar with the John Birch Society, you should become so.  Mourdock has also adopted Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan, which calls for a 9% income tax, 9% federal sales tax, and a 9% business tax.

On Tuesday night, Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton tied a Major League record when he hit four home runs in one game against the Baltimore Orioles IN Baltimore.  Although the Rangers won that game decisively, 10-3, Baltimore fans gave Hamilton a loud standing ovation as he rounded the bases in the eighth inning and did so again at the bottom on the eighth.  Like true fans, true patriots celebrate victories that benefit and elevate all of us.  To do otherwise is bad sportsmanship and bad governance.  It also tarnishes the game of politics and endangers our democracy.  We're better than that.  Aren't we...?