Since arriving in the U.S. Senate in 2011, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has made many of his colleagues crazy. Unwilling to go along to get along, Lee has called out publicly our nation’s legislature for its profligacy and habit of showing up for work barely half the year. Six months into his time in office, Lee published a book advocating a balanced-budget amendment. All of which offended the stuffed shirts who think of their chamber as “the most exclusive club.”

The Senate has a habit of grinding down nonconformists. Chamber leaders and committee heads have plenty of tools to neuter the legislative ambitions and generally marginalize black sheep.