Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is right. Our political parties are broken

I rise to speak in defense of Kyrsten Sinema.

The senator’s decision to leave the Democratic Party and register as an independent has predictably compounded the animosity she already provoked among Democrats who have felt betrayed by her actions on the floor of the U.S. Senate, most notably her support of the filibuster.

Theories abound regarding her motivation (that she fears being primaried), and assaults on her character (that she’s narcissistic, opportunistic and deceitful) are fueling social media.

Fairness and reason, however, dictate a more balanced assessment of the senator’s calculations.

Sinema learned independence from Flake, McCain

A footnote is in order here.

In taking this position, I risk the invective of fellow Democrats and friends. In anticipation, I present my unassailable credentials as a progressive. To wit, when I ran for Congress in 2006, I was recognized as embodying the progressive principles of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and saw Sinema in that same light.

In my conversations with her after she was first elected to the House, it was quite evident that political influence would be not only intoxicating but also transformative. It is one of the hazards but also opportunities of power that the office holder begins to little resemble the candidate and that the protocols of the Legislature require new strategies if one is to accomplish anything of significance.

Looking to 2024:Arizona's politically purple credentials hard to top

Recall that in a Nov. 9, 2018, post-election Facebook post, she pointedly struck a nonpartisan note as she pledged to continue working in government to “find common ground” and declared that she would be “an independent voice for all Arizonans.”

The message of her predecessor, Jeff Flake, could not have been lost on her. A principled Republican, battered by the polarization of the times, the senator observed, in his farewell speech on the Senate floor, the disarray of the political process and the existential threats to democracy.

Sinema learned these lessons well and saw in her predecessor and that of John McCain a model of independence that has enabled her to cross the aisle and actually get things accomplished in key policy areas.

She knows that change comes incrementally

Surely, the disproportionate influence that she and Sen. Joe Manchin exercised in a split Senate seemed obstructionist and infuriated her past followers, but some credit must be allowed for upholding a process that even President Biden was ill-disposed to end.

Efforts to achieve civil discourse, bipartisanship and consensus-building with the opposition party need not be abandoned in the name of purism and ideology. To abandon these principles is political folly, and Sinema is no clown.

Kyrsten Sinema has evolved.

Another view:Sinema is not independent, even if she claims as much

Independent to a fault, she has incurred the rage of left-wing Democrats who expected her to be unquestioningly loyal to ideological purism. However, unlike another “independent” senator, Bernie Sanders, whose theory of change focuses on inspiring political revolution, Kyrsten Sinema reflects the attributes of a pragmatist, understanding that in this country and in this state, change comes incrementally. Hers is a more serious and relevant theory of political change.

Her legislative accomplishments attest to the wisdom of her political positioning.

As a new Congress convenes, she may serve as a much needed and more credible voice for dialogue and negotiation with moderate Republicans who are distancing themselves from the antics and extremism of Donald Trump.

There's merit in occupying the 'sensible center'

A realignment of political parties is underway and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema may very well be at its forefront and a force in forging a new coalition of moderation. Whatever her future may be when her current term expires, her service to Arizona may end up serving as a role model of political sanity and astuteness.

In the end, her position is a more accurate reflection of how many Arizonans, a substantial portion of whom are independent, feel.

The system is broken. The parties are broken. The need exists to breathe new energy into a failing system.

If the results of the last election tell us anything it is that moderation in pursuit of political office is no vice and extremism is no virtue.

In a deeply divided state like Arizona, one succeeds by occupying the sensible center. That’s the spot where Sinema now stands.

Herb Paine is president of Paine Consulting Services, specializing in organizational development and change management, a social and political commentator, and former congressional candidate. Reach him at paineconsulting@cox.net. Follow him on Twitter @HerbPaine.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kyrsten Sinema is right: Our political parties are broken