What a great opportunity Maine’s two “moderate” Republican senators have now to exercise unusual influence on national policy. The Senate is delicately balanced with 51 Republicans, one Independent and 48 Democrats. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are members of the thin line of three or four Republicans deemed politically situated between the mainstream Republicans on the right and most Democrats on the left. Those non-mainstream Republicans, the moderates, often hold the balance of power in Senate voting. At this time in the nation’s history, that is a very important position for a senator to occupy.

As the former Republican and now independent Jim Jeffords of Vermont found, when he couldn’t tolerate the extreme views of the White House and his GOP leaders in the Senate, his separation changed the very dynamics of the Senate and of domestic and international policy. It is not necessary for other reasonable Republicans to quit the party to exercise their unique influence on policy at this time. They need only do what Sens. Snowe and Collins have been doing, somewhat tentatively, in recent weeks. They must speak up when they see the environmental outrages, when the excesses of unequal tax cut proposals abound, when the “leave no child behind” theme becomes a mockery of underfunding, when corporate reform loses priority, when the hunt for Hussein blinds us to the opportunities for resolution without war. But they must speak up more noisily and more courageously, confronting publicly and purposefully the leaders of their party. When called upon, they must vote without fear or unprincipled motivation.

They must not be so cautious at this juncture in history. “Do no harm” is a nice slogan for a risk-adverse politician who takes a supine electorate for granted, but it is not leadership. Our senators have an obligation to protect us against the abuses of the Bush-Rove strategies aimed at the 2004 presidential election. Maine’s two senators are, by the luck of history, able to join Margaret Chase Smith in the pantheon of heroic Senate profiles.

Tom Schroth

Sedgwick