In Praise of Susan Collins

There are probably very few issues on which I would agree with Maine's junior Senator, Susan Collins. In the past, she has voted in favor of the TARP bailouts, Obama's stimulus package, and the Dodd-Frank financial reform. She opposed the earmark ban and the extension of the Bush tax cuts. She voted in favor of the nominations of both Obama Supreme Court appointees, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. There are probably very few issues on which Senator Collins and I would agree.

However, a Huffington Post article this weekend gives me reason to praise Senator Collins. Sometime this week, she will cast her 5000th consecutive vote on the Senate floor, and she has not missed a single vote since coming to the Senate in January 1997.

We do not send people to Washington to sit in meetings, hold committee hearings, or travel around the world; we send them to Washington to be voice in the government. Every time my representative or senator misses a vote, my voice is not heard (or diminished by half in the Senate). I realize that our representatives do have other responsibilities and that these might occasionally interfere with a vote. However, a true representative of the people will strive to make the voice of his or her representatives heard at every vote.

While I have many disagreements with the political beliefs of Senator Collins, I appreciate the fact that she takes her job as a representative seriously.