Kudos, Mr. Miller

US Senator Zell Miller, a Democrat from Georgia, has decided to campaign for President George Bush during his re-election campaign. Democrats, of course, are irate.

It's too bad they're too shortsighted to remember the great defection of Senator Jim Jeffords, a betrayal they welcomed with open arms.

It wasn't the betrayal of the Democratic Party that was the trouble. Jeffords's decision upset the balance in the Senate and gave the Democrats control. His action single-handedly overturned the will of the people of his state. He could have just begun to vote for bills a Democrat would favor; instead he took a step further and changed the agenda of the entire body. Why not just come clean and run as a Democrat so the people can decide if that's the man they want representing their state, and if that's the sort of composition the Senate needs.

I suspect Miller is the sort of man too mature to do something like that. Now he's simply campaigning for Bush. He has not undemocratically changed the political climate. He is playing by the rules, and I think it's because he respects his fellow Georgians.

Interesting how Jeffords's turn to the Democratic Party displayed a contempt for the people of his state, while Miller's decision did the opposite. I know the Republican Party isn't exactly the party of freedom and responsibility anymore, but still...