Last week, Armenia’s prime minister resigned last week to try to force his enemies out of parliament. Armenia’s system is a little different, and he’ll stay in quasi-power until the next parliament chooses a replacement, but still.

Some politicians say they’re willing to sacrifice their power over some principle. It’s a rare thing for one of them to actually do it.

The most recent American example I can think of was John Frary, who ran for Congress on the promise that he’d only serve one term and was only running to unseat then-Congressman Mike Michaud, who he (and I) considered a dimwitted career politician. Frary got walloped 67-33 in the election, so we’ll never know if he would have kept that promise, but I still had a little respect for him.