Were Hagel to switch parties, the only one that would make sense for him to join is the Libertarian Party. His grades on all the scorecards of Congress indicate he is one of the most principled conservatives in Congress.
But, thanks to the War in Iraq, the American right is splintering into the national-conservatives and the libertarian-conservatives. All around the world, when the right splits, the left wins.
Libertarians are not conservatives, and conservatives are not libertarians, although there is an overlap, and although Ronald Reagan said inside every true conservative is the heart of a libertarian (he was speaking more of himself than of conservatives in general). Neverthelesss, usually, we can work together.
During the last several years, we have not had any progress on things that matter to either faction. No progress on spending, on entitlement reform, etc. As a consequence, there has been no "good feelings" that has enabled either faction to accept compromise positions on anything.
I put the blame for all of this on mission creep that's been going on in Iraq. Congress in authorizing the use of force in Iraq cited things of immediate concern to the American people.
But, upon the discovery that there were no WMDs, the mission "shifted" to one of enabling Iraq to form a new government. As they stood up, we were supposed to stand down.
Well, they have ratified their new constitution, elected their new government, and have now had three years to field an army and a police force. But, we're not standing down because, well, now we have a new mission. Now, our mission is an Iraq capable of governing itself, defending itself, and so forth.
Why is Iraq's future OUR responsibility?
And, when did Congress ever authorize the use of force for this mission?
I don't think Congress ever did.
There was never any such discovery. The WMDs the world knew were there were simply never found ("absence of proof is not proof of absence"). That's what happens when you give a dictator an 18 month head start to get rid of them. Any guesses on what those trucks were carrying into Syria days before the war started?
The other part of the mission was to end a Sunni regime aligned with the Sunni terrorists who had just slaughtered 3,000 civilians in NY, PA and DC. The Sunni dictator is dead. His Sunni terrorist allies remain. The mission continues.