Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much these days, but you can bet the house that they both share an aversion to political suicide. Consider this week’s Senate vote on a bill related to government shutdowns.

On Wednesday, members of the upper chamber adopted a resolution to withhold their pay — most make $174,000 a year — during future shutdowns. The vote was unanimous. No surprise. Who’s willing to go on record demanding his or her own paychecks keep coming when federal workers are sent home without pay?

Shutdowns have become increasingly more common in recent years as political polarization grips Washington. During the recent dispute over Homeland Security funding, TSA agents, Coast Guard members and other workers in the department were forced to go without pay, used as pawns by Democrats attempting to make a point about immigration enforcement.…