Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman congressman from Alabama, announced today that he is switching parties - joining the Republicans, in fact, after public disagreement with the Democrats on the health care legislation.

Let that sink in for a moment.  The tide in this country has been moving steadily against the Democrat machine pushing unpopular health care reform legislation.  In a lot of districts, having that "D" after one's name is becoming a political liability.  This issue that is uniting citizens against incumbents from both parties has finally broken the back of Democrats' monolithic hold over moderates.

I'm from Texas, where a score and more of local elected Democrats at the county level have begun switching allegiance to the GOP, citing for their reason the atmosphere in Washington and the extreme liberalism of President Obama and his party.  We have a state representative who has changed parties as well.  We're talking about people who already represented conservative districts, who may have even voted more conservatively than their counterparts, who are seeing what Democrats are doing on a national scale and choosing to turn from it.  The party, it seems, has left them.  And it is nothing new.

The question has come up:  should House Republicans welcome Parker Griffith, and should the RNC?  In an age where political allegiance to party can be as fluid as the Mississippi, I say, absolutely.  We'll get further by welcoming the Parker Griffiths of every branch of government who have learned a hard lesson about the party they have previously called theirs. 

Is it politically mercenary, switching parties at such a time?  Sure it is.  Griffith is probably more than well aware of his constituents' growing discontent with Obamacare and the big government policies that will stifle their rural Southern state.  He'd like to continue representing his district.  Changing parties allows him the freedom to vote his constituents' interests without being beholden to the Democrat party line on some of these bigger issues.

It needs to be noted that no Republican (or for that matter, Democrat) is 100% in line with the party's issues and platform all the time.  Griffith will have some work to do to prove to his constituents that changing parties represents a change in voting habits.  That job belongs to the voters in the Alabama 5th.  The RNC and the House Republicans need do nothing more than let him in the door, and get him educated about being a Republican as quick as they can.

For those of us who don't live or vote in the Alabama 5th - if we're not represented by people we feel confident in, we have our own backyards to look after.  And we can breathe a sigh of small relief that the nonsense coming out of Washington finally reached such a pitch as to change the mind of one congressman.  Hopefully, Parker Griffith's party change is a sign of better things to come for this still-center-right nation of ours.