Long a favorite of the progressive blogosphere, the fiercely independent Democrat did not come to suggest that all the world’s problems were caused by awful Republicans or that all the solutions would come from Democrats. And in so doing, Feingold provided a powerful reminder that the way back from the brink to which Republicans such as Scott Walker and Paul Ryan have taken us is not an embrace of compromise politics, promoted by the likes of cautious Democrats in Madison and Washington.

Feingold, who cast the sole vote against the Patriot Act and took the lead in opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may have made a name for himself fighting the worst excesses of the Bush administration. But he was never a yes-man for the Obama administration. He cast a relatively lonely vote against making Tim Geithner the secretary of the Treasury, and an even more lonely vote against banking reforms that failed to address the threat posed by “too-big-to-fail” banks. And he fought Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama on trade policy.