America is heading into a political campaign to decide who will be responsible for healing America's wounds, many self-inflicted. You all know them:

Unsustainable fiscal and trade deficits / debt
Excess unemployment
Climate disruption / energy policy
Nuclear proliferation – Iran and North Korea
Israel / Pakistan and the "Arab Spring"
Education and immigration
Social issues: contraception, guns and gays

There may be more. Most are inter-related. None can be solved by a silver bullet. All will take patience, time and collegial effort to come up with the least painful solutions.

Many are the result of our foolish national addiction to consume now, pay later, encouraged by irresponsible politics over many years and administrations. It is time for our political parties to face up to the responsibilities of governing – tell it like it is, and work together to come up with the least bad solutions, and then sell them to America, regardless of who gets blamed.

A recent straw in the wind suggests we do not have an electorate or Congress up to the task.

Republican voters in Indiana recently rejected Senator Richard Lugar, a 36 year veteran and former chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, for nomination to a seventh term. The sin that beat him? "He was too willing to work with Democrats to solve problems."

The winner? A Tea Party ideologue.

When Purple was in government he knew and respected Dick Lugar. One incident from 1988 sticks in mind.

Sen. Lugar and I are seated next to each other at a luncheon in Washington in 1988. Either on that day or the day before, Presidential nominee Vice President George H. W. Bush has selected Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as his running mate. Lugar is clearly distressed. I try to comfort him along the following lines:

"Bush has to pick a Midwest Senator for balance, because he is basically a New Englander, transplanted to Texas. To avoid losing a Senate seat he has to pick one from a state with a Republican Governor who can appoint a Republican replacement. The candidates under that scenario become Bob Kasten of Wisconsin and Dan Quayle of Indiana. He couldn't pick you because you are up for reelection in 1988, and you can't run for two offices on the same ballot, though you clearly are a better VP candidate than Quayle or Kasten. Bush can't afford to lose the Senate seat."

Lugar's response: "Of course I can run for both offices." He was right. Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas did run for both the Senate and VP. My guess is that Bush got bad advice from his campaign staff. On such mistakes history turns, and a second Bush term evaporated with that decision, as did a probable uptick in Dick Lugar's career. C'est la vie.

As one of many who are distressed with the recent primary election in Indiana, Purple cannot help but reflect on what might have been, and on what has become of our Republican Party, which Dick Lugar served so well for many years, and I for a much shorter period.

Senator Lugar had a marvelous 36 years in the Senate, reaching across the aisle to get things done. The things Congress has done best are in his specialty, foreign affairs. We all thank him for it.

But I fear that the current "take no prisoners" attitude in politics will destroy our country. I believe Norm Ornstein's and Tom Mann's recent book "Let's Just Say It – The Republicans are the Problem" is right. I do not believe the vitriol that Republicans are spewing into my telephone as recently as this evening. But many voters may accept it as fact.

With fond memories of the GOP we once had – Teddy, Ike, Gerry Ford, George H. W, even Dick Nixon - where have you gone?

We need a new Republican Party. Mitt Romney, where are you?