Member-only story
Congressional Cowardice in Impeachment 2021
If some contemporary admirer of JFK (or Ted Sorensen) wished to write a second volume to Profiles in Courage, it would be a very short book.
The last senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), seemed to take pride in his nickname, Grim Reaper, perhaps because it was directly connected to the source of his power, his ability to steer the senate away from situations that might require “his members” to cast a difficult vote. The primary difficulty to be avoided was controversy in their home states.
The issue is not having one’s true position smoked out by the vote. There might not even be a true position. The issue is having to cast the sort of vote that is bound to cost political support among those on the other side of the vote because it is a salient issue, an issue voters carry with them to the ballot box. Another feature of the “difficult vote” is that it is a public position for which reasons must be given. The vote might require the member to — -horrors! — -debate the issue, whether on the campaign trail or on the Senate Floor.
How is it, I wonder, that an outfit styling itself “the world’s greatest deliberative body” could harbor so many members who wish to avoid public deliberation? On the other side of the Capitol…
