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My New Favorite Politician
Sen. Ben Sasse has been knocking it out of the park lately, and his latest is no exception:
Now, I could quibble with Sasse’s exact reasoning — I think he should require more of a justice than just that he reject executive unilateralism — but that’s hardly the point. What makes this video so great is that Sasse has a firm grasp of conservative principles and knows how to use the power of the Internet and modern media to present them.
The wrong senators are running for president.
He is awesome.
I would have loved to see Tom Cotton and Ben Sasse on the Republican ticket.
I’m not too happy with any of the candidates at the moment.
I think we need to produce a platform first and then find someone who will promote it as president.
In which case, I wouldn’t mind a stronger political party, a group that would actually find a good candidate and support him or her with everything it’s got.
It would avoid our having candidates who support only half of our important positions. :) :)
I don’t see anything to quibble with. There is more that he could say, of course, but he does identify perhaps the single most important issue that separates the two sides of the spectrum.
I think the most important issue is constitutional originalism, of which executive unilateralism is a component.
Thanks for the post! Ricochet needs more Sasse!
What you said.
That was awesome.
Concise and to the point. This
cliplesson can accommodate even the feeblest of attention spans (note to self: send link to Cousin Ned).I argued for just this approach in a comment on: How Republicans Can Win the Supreme Court Media Battle a couple days ago, concluding:
If Obama and his defenders are going to fight for a nomination hearing on Conservatives’ turf (Constitutional obligations of elected officials) then the GOP has a duty to expand that conversation to include the guy in the White House.
He is, hands down, my favorite politician right now.
Coming soon. Stay tuned.
This is awesome.
I’m calling Sasse in the Cotton-Sasse throwdown in 2024.
All true conservatives vote for Sasse, the rest of y’all are filthy RINO’s.
Do I have to jump on the bandwagon immediately to avoid filthy RINO-ism? Or am I allowed a little time to make up my mind, seeing I’m currently unaware of the precise distinctions that are going to make Cotton into an Establishment sell-out?
Or does he become the Establishment candidate automatically when George P. Bush flames out?
Seriously… I hope and pray the Republican Party is so serious and viable in 2024 as to have a race between two such candidates as those…
Won’t Emperor for Life Donald Trump still be in power in 2024?
He’s been my favorite ever since I saw the video of his maiden speech on the Senate floor back in November. I would 100 percent support a ticket with Sasse on it!
Do not insult his holiness the trump with the plebeian term of “emperor”. Call him by his birth right title of “trumperor”.
Sasse is great. He’s a real intellectual, in the best sense of the word. We need more people like this in the Senate.
I just have one quibble with Sasse. I think in this particular instance, it’s entirely appropriate to make a broad-based constitutional argument. On the other hand, it seems like this is Sasse’s go-to form of persuasion: that a policy is either good or bad because it comports with the constitution or runs against it. I’m a deep believer in the constitutional order originally understood but I think it’s clear that a particular policy is not necessarily worth supporting because it’s constitutional. I would like to see him start buttressing his more intellectual arguments with utilitarian ones. I think he’s one of the sharpest and most gifted communicators on the right and could get a lot of people’s attention in this way.
I just wonder how many casual observers of politics hear: “Our founders…” and instantly stop listening.
How many liberals like liberal policies and therefore have come to adopt a liberal vision of the constitution? Most I would guess, because their vision is quite bizarre and mutable. We’re not going to turn those souls without going after the policies, which are really their first principles. So get to it Senator!
Oh dear, a George P. Bush presidential campaign. Saints preserve us. And no, rational thought is not allowed in Republican primary politics: only emotion is allowed to drive your vote.
Sasse just got there! And this is his first elected office. You want him to run for president without ever speaking on the Senate floor? Give him time.
There’s a lot to this argument. I think that many Republicans and Conservatives have become experts at communicating with our side and have lost the ability to reach out beyond our own coalition (and apparently to certain factions within it). I think Rubio and Cruz are the most effective at communicating Conservatism of the current crop – there’s a video of Cruz handling Ellen Page on SSM at a campaign event that is just superb.
All that said, a starting point of “what does The Constitution allow” is the bare minimum for any conservative policy.
Every time I see him I like him more. I look forward to hearing more from him.
Hooray!
We’re going to need a lot more sound civics if we’re going to get back on track.
I’d love to see a Republican President put Sasse in charge of a renewing-basic-civics-education-across-the-nation task force.
Yes, of course I agree, I’m just saying you don’t have to start with it when you’re making your case. It’s not effective when you’re talking to people who either don’t know anything about the constitution or believe it’s living.
Agreed, the trouble is freedom is a hard sell to people averse to uncertainty.
I don’t think that’s so. Upon the whole, I would say people are not as adverse to uncertainty as they used to be in America. & yet in previous ages, there was a taste for freedom now either forgotten or misunderstood.
Only improvement would have been Sasse Throwing the Bones at the end. Huskers know defense. #NoHearingsNoVotes
My best friend is a liberal constitutional law scholar. His view of the Constitution is that it means whatever 5 justices say it means. He actually says it in those very words. For the most part this has worked out well for his policy preferences (SSM, Obamacare, etc.). He sees no limits to the government’s power under the commerce clause. He sees no limits to the meaning of the equal protection clause. Unless it results in George W. Bush being elected president.
When the Court goes against him (gun rights) he generally makes the argument that the conservatives are hypocritical. For example, in Heller, he argues that the militia clause is dispositive, and there is not much in the historical context that points to personal defense as a basis for the 2nd amendment.
But when the Court makes it up (SSM) the outcome is all that matters and the constitutional text and historical context be damned. I’ll bet this is the typical attitude amongst liberals.
Yes exactly, that’s why I think Sasse’s consistent “Our founders believed…” civics-lesson-style arguments, though persuasive to me, are not going to ultimately be winners in a national race. I think they’re actually dead losers for Republicans. Rand Paul had the same problem. He needs to make more policy-based arguments: why free markets end poverty, how welfare hurts blacks, how school choice helps students, etc. If you can prove to liberals and moderates with good intentions that conservative policies achieve better results, then the “living” constitution might start aging very rapidly.
How can you not love this guy:
Swoon:
Senator Sasse will be on Need To Know with Charen and Nordlinger today. You can listen in live starting at 11:15AM PT.