Is Elizabeth Warren Helping Or Hurting the Democratic Party?

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has been the hero of the left since she stepped onto the national stage four years ago. From her crusade against big banks to her ardent support for individual consumers, she has steadfastly supported the pet causes of the left, seeking to help them progress in a pragmatic and disciplined way. Since she entered the United States Senate seven months ago, however, that pragmatism has crashed and burned and her new attitude has begun to create a Tea Partyesque divide that Democrats are now seeing within their caucus for the first time.

Warren is a left-wing ideologue, and the voters of Massachusetts knew that before electing her to the Senate. Just how much of an ideologue she would be, however, was something that few saw coming. Warren has moved beyond simply attacking the opposition party and has set her eyes on a new political target to take down: Democrats. Just last week, Warren took to the Senate floor, giving a tirade in direct opposition of the currently proposed bipartisan plan to fix student-loan debt concerns, bucking her own caucus and balking at a plan endorsed by her President, Barack Obama. Warren scolded Democrats and Obama for supporting a plan that would raise $184 billion in interest payments for the government "on the backs of students," and called for students to be able to borrow from the government at the same interest rate that big banks do.

Warren's tirade gleaned a rebuke from many in her own caucus, including Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the number two Democrat in the Senate. In his response Durbin plead with Warren stating, "walking away from [this deal] just doesn't make sense," and adding that the majority simply does not have the votes to hammer out a more liberally tinged bill.

This however has not been the first time that Warren has proven herself to be too liberal for mainstream Democrats. Earlier this month she angered the White House by being one of only four Democrats to vote against President Obama's nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman. Warren cited the need for America to move in "a direction that prioritizes public debate and transparency" and scolded the Obama administration for keeping specifics regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement that includes ten countries, hidden from Congress.

These telling actions clearly depict a phenomenon occurring that Democrats have been terrified of: severe inter-party division, which has incidentally crippled the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Unlike the House, however, Senate business can be completely halted by the actions of one renegade senator.

Over the course of the past month, Senator Warren has proven that she does not care about passing legislation; so long as she is able tout the policies of the far-left. This is a pattern that has clearly played out on the far right since 2011, and America must ask itself with baited breath; are these the actions of one hooligan senator or a trend that will eventually hijack liberal politics in America.