The power of leadership in Congress and its consequences

 "Congress at a Crossroads"  discusses how the amount of power that leadership has in Congress to get members of the same party to act or vote a certain way leads to more polarization: 

"Members are under no illusion about one of leadership's primary roles: to maximize the power and strength of its caucus." (Page 13)

"The priority leaders place on keeping their Members safe and either maintaining or obtaining majority status often works against the bipartisanship and compromise essential to legislation that addresses the common good." (Page 26)

There's a clip from the show House of Cards that I think really illustrates this point. 

Spoiler alert, these members end up submitting to Frank Underwood, who is the whip in this season. Goes to show how now matter how much a member of Congress might want to stick to their core beliefs, the party ends up coming first.

Throughout the show, things like this happen a lot where leadership will make funding or bills that a certain representative wants on the floor contingent on that representative's vote on something else that leadership wants passed.