The state of Maine has had its share of crooks and liars hold political office, but there has also been a strong thread reaching back through the state's history of men and women in high office who have taken brave stands, putting a greater principle ahead of the politics of the moment.

In 1950, during the ascent of Joe McCarthy, Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith was the first and, for a time, the only Republican to stand up for the rights of Americans to “hold unpopular beliefs,” to criticize their government and called for an end to the tactics of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

“I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny - Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear,” she announced in her Declaration of Conscience speech on the Senate floor. For her stand, she earned herself the nickname “Moscow Maggie” and a McCarthy-backed primary challenger in 1954.

Almost a century earlier in 1868, Senator William Pitt Fessenden of Maine stood to cast the deciding vote against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Fessenden strongly opposed the president and his political views, declaring that he had “broken the faith, betrayed his trust and must sink from detestation to contempt,” but he loved the Constitution more than he hated Johnson, and knew that impeachment for political reasons was against the framers' ideals and would lead to the end of the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches.

Fessenden and the six other Republican senators who voted against impeachment were hung in effigy across the country. Not a single one was reelected.

In 1880, the state of Maine nearly saw a civil war. A fusion legislative majority of Democrats and Greenbackers had just been voted out of office and replaced with a Republican majority. No gubernatorial candidate had received a majority of the votes, so that race would be decided by the legislature, giving the Republicans both branches.

Before the new House and Senate could take power, however, the Democrats and Greenbackers began “counting out” their opponents, discarding hundreds of legitimate ballots until they could claim that they had retained the majority and thus also the governorship.

The disagreement quickly escalated and each side brought bands of men to Augusta, the Republicans stationing their private army across from the Capitol at the home of Republican Senator James G. Blaine, now the official residence of Maine's governors. Bloodshed seemed imminent.

Joshua Chamberlain, the hero of Gettysburg and former Republican governor, was at this time Major General of Maine's militia, and perhaps the only man in the state who could avert disaster. He chose to come alone, refusing to march troops through the streets of Augusta and instead using the city's police force to maintain order.

He rebuffed demands from both the sitting Democratic governor and his own Republican party to allow them to take control of the apparatus of state government. He was threatened with death and offered bribes, but he maintained peaceful control over the situation, insisting that the Supreme Court be allowed to decide the issue.

Chamberlain had long and dearly wished to become a U.S. Senator, and both sides now offered him that post, if he would just get out of the way and allow them to take control. He held firm.

At the height of the conflict, a band of armed Fusionists gathered outside the capitol and threatened to kill Chamberlain. He went out to face them alone and through an appeal to the rule of law and his own sheer force of will, convinced them to disband.

The conflict was eventually decided peacefully by the court and Chamberlain was later lauded for his impartiality, but the incident ended his political career. He had made powerful enemies who would see to it that he would never serve in the U.S. Senate.

These are the acts of Maine independents. They held their ground against overwhelming opposition, buttressed only by their own belief in deeply-held principles.

Maine Senators Snowe and Collins are often looked to now for independent judgment and action, and sometimes they do take principled stands, but often they instead practice a kind of political compromising that masquerades as independence.

Senator Collins' stance on the recent federal stimulus package is a good example. She fought for the package to be capped at $700 billion – not because economists said that this was the right number, or because of some greater principle dictated that this was the correct amount, but because it was a compromise between the larger package proposed by Democrats and a smaller one favored by Republicans. It was compromise for the sake of compromise.

We saw this kind of false independence raised again in a letter recently signed by both of Maine's senators calling for a delay in passing health care reform. The delay is a tactic supported by right-wing strategists hoping to kill any attempt at meaningful reform. Why would Snowe and Collins support this? The only reason the letter gives is a desire to “ensure bipartisanship.” No policy they believe needs support, no constitutional principle they believe needs defending, just “bipartisanship.”

Bipartisanship is not a measure of quality. A law can be bipartisan and terrible, like the Patriot Act, or partisan and later universally applauded, such as Social Security or Medicare.

Great Maine independents of the past have stood for principles such as the Constitution, civil rights and the rule of law, often risking their own careers to do so. Calling for bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake and for compromise for compromise's sake is doing the opposite – seeking political cover and preserving personal power.

The health care crisis is a profound threat to our country and to thousands of Mainers whose lives hang in the balance. It’s a chance for Maine’s senators to show real independence. Let’s hope they continue the best traditions of our state.

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