Richard Lugar: Charting His Own Course Against Prevailing Winds - NYTimes.com

 I do not use the word  Republican as a derogatory adjective. First because  Abraham Lincoln deserves that respect.  So does  the great judge of the civil rights movement John Minor Wisdom who was known as "Mr. Republican" in Louisiana.  A third reason  is Sen. Richard Lugar (R - Indiana).

I am a social democrat but I believe that my ideas are part of the yin-yang of life. The Chinese concept recognizes that there are existential contradictions. Light is meaningless and useless without dark. Without dark light would blind you. You need edges to see. It is the same with politics: someone has to emphasize the collective and someone else the indvidual. Which does not mean the answer is in the middle. But it does mean that the essentiality of both sides to existence must be recognized.  Richard Lugar represents the individual side of the debate.

His bucking the trend against the Tea Party impulse is discussed informatively in this piece from today's NY Times.