Republican senators and courage
It will not be easy to eliminate treachery or improve judgment in the GOP. But, as we approach Donald Trump Beinart has a good, if pretty obvious, point. The desire for reelection is a strong incentive to adhere to the party line, and office holders are more inclined toward independence when they “worry more about how they will be judged by history than by their peers.” Beinart offers Thomas Hart Benton and Sam Houston as historical examples of senior senators who risked their careers to oppose slavery and reject secession, but he closes his essay very oddly with this quote from Massachus...
Source: thehill.com