Enough's enough

Last night, the Democratic majority in the House passed its version of health care reform legislation. It now goes to the Senate. "Independent" Senator Joe Lieberman immediately announced that "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote."

It's an odd legislative system where the junior senator from the small state of Connecticut can unilaterally bring the majority party's legislative program to a standstill by threatening a filibuster. Until recently, filibusters and threats of filibusers were reserved for true "matters of conscience," although the "conscience" was usually that of Southerners defending their region's peculiar racial policies. At least, in those cases, an entire geographical region was protecting itself against what it believed to be a tyrannical Northern majority.

Now, it seems, even proposed legislative changes to the nation's system of health care insurance serves as an affront to the conscience of the junior senator from Connecticut.

Joe Lieberman, as we recall, was elected to the Senate as a Democrat, with the support of the Democratic party, in 1988 and 1994. He ran for vice president as Al Gore's running mate in 2000, hedging his bet by, at the same time, also running successfully for relection to the Senate.

In 2006, Democratic voters defeated his bid to run once more for re-election. Refusing to accept the decision of his party's voters, he ran as an Independent, announcing that "For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot and will not let that result stand." (He failed to add that it was for the sake of his own political ambitions.) He went on to defeat the Democratic nominee. In 2008, he campaigned actively for Republican presidential nominee John McCain. McCain reportedly nearly selected Lieberman as his running mate and was considering naming him Secretary of State if he won.

When the Democrats took the presidency and won control of both houses of Congress, Lieberman hesitated whether to accept an invitation to join the Republican caucus, dithering in his decision until satisfied that the Democrats would allow him to retain his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee.

Senator Lieberman's position on many political issues has been commendable. But he won election as -- and called himself -- a Democrat. We have the right to expect commendable positions from a Democratic New England senator. Unfortunately, he often seems to confuse his political self-interest with the demands of his conscience. And he is reported to have received nearly $1 million in contributions from the health insurance industry.

There has always been room in the Democratic party for mavericks. Unlike the Republicans, Democrats do not demand slavish loyalty to the party platform. But when a Democratic U.S. Senator supports the presidential campaign of the Republican nominee, he has gone beyond the realm of being a maverick. Whether Joe Lieberman's present threats to filibuster health insurance reform are based on the imperatives of his conscience, the generous contributions received from opponents of the litigation, or simply his best guess as to what best serves his long term political advantage -- enough is enough.

Lieberman has shown no compunction about using the Democratic party to further his own interests. Just as soon as his now-doubtful vote is of no further use to the Democrats, they should likewise have no qualms about stripping him of his committee chairmanships and any other prerogatives that he now enjoys as a quasi-Democrat.

Let Sen. Lieberman become a Republican. Let's see how well Joe's conscience accepts the unsmiling authority of the Republican whips. And how long the Republicans themselves can tolerate his unpredictable presence in their own caucus.