That Thing I Mentioned Yesterday

Reader Morey Straus did the work -- I just think it's a great thing and want to promote it. The site is headed Mavericks and Sycophants, and what it measures is  "how often a member [of Congress] breaks from bipartisan agreement — the moments when the Borg collectively wants a Yea, and someone votes No anyway."

The big takeaway from the data is independence of party leadership: How often a US Representative or US Senator says "the party leader/whip say everyone has to vote X, but fuck that, I'm voting Y."

The designations are a range running from "mindless drone" to "lone wolf."

Interestingly:

In the House, the Democratic Party has absolutely none of the two most "independent" categories, "Rebellious Streak" and "Lone Wolf," while the Republicans have 11 "Rebellious Streak" and one "Lone Wolf" (you can probably guess that last one). "The Squad" makes a lot of noise but doesn't really color outside their party's line to any great degree. 

But in the Senate, it's the other way around -- the Democrats have nine "Rebellious Streak" and four "Lone Wolf" Senators who frequently buck party leadership demands, while the Republicans have a grand total of one in either category, a "Lone Wolf" whose identity you can probably also guess.

There are probably clues in this data as to differences in party organizational dynamics, how campaigns get funded/supported (or killed), etc.

And the bottom line on individual congresscritters is that you can tell how often "yours" votes in the interests of his or her party organization versus maybe ... just maybe ... "representing" something else (maybe your desires, but more likely his or her own desires or the desires of the lobbyists offering the best cocktail parties, junkets, paper bags with cash, etc.).

Enjoy -- and thanks for doing this, Morey!