Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake stuck out his neck by holding back his vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until the FBI conducted an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
However, the most fascinating aspect about Flake’s move was not the motivations behind it, but the conditions making it possible.
In an interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS, host Scott Pelley asked Flake if he "could you have done this, if [he wasn't] running for re-election?"
"No, not a chance," Flake responded.
"Because politics has become too sharp, too partisan?" Pelley followed up.
"There's no value to reaching across the aisle. There's no currency for that anymore. There's no incentive," Flake elaborated.
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While the focus has been on whether the Senate should confirm Kavanaugh, Flake's admission makes the strongest case for congressional term limits.
Think about it: If the only thing Senators and congressmen care about is getting re-elected, there's little reason to work toward compromise with the other party. No voters reward that behavior. If you remove that incentive by implementing term limits, you may actually get more members of Congress to do the right thing.
Obviously, whether Flake made the right decision is debatable, but clearly, he was able to do what he believed was right because he wasn't worried about what would cost him his job.