Ben Sasse’s “Open Letter to the Majority of America”

 
1200px-Ben_Sasse_by_Gage_Skidmore

By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38720077

From the Nebraska senator’s Facebook Page:

TO: Those who think both leading presidential candidates are dishonest and have little chance of leading America forward (…or, stated more simply) TO: The majority of America:

Note: If you are one of those rare souls who genuinely believe Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are honorable people – if they are the role models you want for your kids – then this letter is not for you. Instead, this letter is for the majority of Americans who wonder why the nation that put a man on the moon can’t find a healthy leader who can take us forward together.

I want to tell you about four unsolicited conversations from the Fremont Wal-Mart this morning:

Retired union Democrat meat-packer: What the heck is wrong with that city where you work? Why can’t they give us a normal person? Is it really so hard?

Me: Actually, it is for them – because most people in DC buy the nonsense that DC is the center of the world. You and I, despite our party differences, both agree that Fremont is the center.

Union Democrat (interrupting): …Because this is where my grandkids are.

Young evangelical mom: I want to cry. I disagree with Hillary Clinton on almost every single thing – but I will vote for her before Trump. I could never tell my kids later that I voted for that man.

Middle-aged Republican male (more political than the other folks):
“It feels like the train-car to hell is accelerating. Why is DC more filled with weirdos and yet more powerful at the same time? How do we slow this down long enough to have a conversation about actually fixing our country?”

Trump supporter (again, unsolicited): Please understand: I’m going to vote for him, but I don’t like him. And I don’t trust him – I mean, I’m not stupid. But how else can I send a signal to Washington?!


I’ve ignored my phone most of today, but the voicemail is overflowing with party bosses and politicos telling me that “although Trump is terrible,” we “have to” support him, “because the only choice is Trump or Hillary.”

This open letter aims simply to ask “Why is that the only choice?”

Melissa and I got the kids launched on homework, so I’ve been sitting out by the river, reflecting on the great gap between what folks in my town are talking about, and what folks in the DC bubble are talking about.

I trust the judgment of this farm town way more than I trust DC. And so I’d like to share a dozen-ish observations on these Wal-Mart and other conversations today:

  1. Washington isn’t fooling anyone — Neither political party works. They bicker like children about tiny things, and yet they can’t even identify the biggest issues we face. They’re like a couple arguing about what color to paint the living room, and meanwhile, their house is on fire. They resort to character attacks as step one because they think voters are too dumb for a real debate. They very often prioritize the agendas of lobbyists (for whom many of them will eventually work) over the urgent needs of Main Street America. I signed up for the Party of Abraham Lincoln — and I will work to reform and restore the GOP — but let’s tell the plain truth that right now both parties lack vision.
  2. As a result, normal Americans don’t like either party. If you ask Americans if they identify as Democrat or Republican, almost half of the nation interrupts to say: “Neither.”
  3. Young people despise the two parties even more than the general electorate. And why shouldn’t they? The main thing that unites most Democrats is being anti-Republican; the main thing that unites most Republicans is being anti-Democrat. No one knows what either party is for — but almost everyone knows neither party has any solutions for our problems. “Unproductive” doesn’t begin to summarize how messed up this is.
  4. Our problems are huge right now, but one of the most obvious is that we’ve not passed along the meaning of America to the next generation. If we don’t get them to re-engage — thinking about how we defend a free society in the face of global jihadis, or how we balance our budgets after baby boomers have dishonestly over-promised for decades, or how we protect First Amendment values in the face of the safe-space movement – then all will indeed have been lost. One of the bright spots with the rising generation, though, is that they really would like to rethink the often knee-jerk partisanship of their parents and grandparents. We should encourage this rethinking.
  5. These two national political parties are enough of a mess that I believe they will come apart. It might not happen fully in 2016 – and I’ll continue fighting to revive the GOP with ideas — but when people’s needs aren’t being met, they ultimately find other solutions.
  6. In the history of polling, we’ve basically never had a candidate viewed negatively by half of the electorate. This year, we have two. In fact, we now have the two most unpopular candidates ever – Hillary by a little, and Trump by miles (including now 3 out of 4 women – who vote more and influence more votes than men). There are dumpster fires in my town more popular than these two “leaders.”
  7. With Clinton and Trump, the fix is in. Heads, they win; tails, you lose. Why are we confined to these two terrible options? This is America. If both choices stink, we reject them and go bigger. That’s what we do.
  8. Remember: Our Founders didn’t want entrenched political parties. So why should we accept this terrible choice?
  9. So…let’s have a thought experiment for a few weeks: Why shouldn’t America draft an honest leader who will focus on 70% solutions for the next four years? You know…an adult?

    (Two notes for reporters:

    **Such a leader should be able to campaign 24/7 for the next six months. Therefore he/she likely can’t be an engaged parent with little kids.

    **Although I’m one of the most conservative members of the Senate, I’m not interested in an ideological purity test, because even a genuine consensus candidate would almost certainly be more conservative than either of the two dishonest liberals now leading the two national parties.)

  10. Imagine if we had a candidate:
    1. …who hadn’t spent his/her life in politics either buying politicians or being bought
    2. …who didn’t want to stitch together a coalition based on anger but wanted to take a whole nation forward
    3. …who pledged to serve for only one term, as a care-taker problem-solver for this messy moment
    4. …who knew that Washington isn’t competent to micromanage the lives of free people, but instead wanted to SERVE by focusing on 3 or 4 big national problems, such as:
      1. A national security strategy for the age of cyber and jihad;
      2. Honest budgeting/entitlement reform so that we stop stealing from future generations;
      3. Empowering states and local governments to improve K-12 education, and letting Washington figure out how to update federal programs to adjust to now needing lifelong learners in an age where folks are obviously not going to work at a single job for a lifetime anymore; and
      4. Retiring career politicians by ending all the incumbency protections, special rules, and revolving door opportunities for folks who should be public “servants,” not masters.

This really shouldn’t be that hard.

The oath I took is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. In brief, that means I’m for limited government.

And there is no reason to believe that either of these two national frontrunners believe in limiting anything about DC’s power.

I believe that most Americans can still be for limited government again — if they were given a winsome candidate who wanted Washington to focus on a small number of really important, urgent things — in a way that tried to bring people together instead of driving us apart.

I think there is room – an appetite – for such a candidate.

What am I missing?

More importantly, what are the people at the Fremont Wal-Mart missing?

Because I don’t think they are wrong. They deserve better. They deserve a Congress that tackles the biggest policy problems facing the nation. And they deserve a president who knows that his or her job is not to “reign,” but to serve as commander-in-chief and to “faithfully execute” the laws – not to claim imperial powers to rewrite them with his pen and phone.

The sun is mostly set on the Platte River — and the kids need baths. So g’night.

Ben

‪#‎WeCanDoBetter‬
‪#‎GiveUsMoreChoices‬

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  1. Kevin Creighton Contributor
    Kevin Creighton
    @KevinCreighton

    Ben… Ben, I love you, but Hillary Clinton has declared that I, personally, am her enemy, because I am an NRA member.

    I loathe Trump. I wish all manner of ill upon him for how he conducted his campaign, smearing the innocent and dragging candidate’s families down into the gutter.

    But.

    Hillary has declared that firearms owners are her enemy. Her primary enemy is not Al-Qaeda or ISIS or any number of overseas groups who wish to do us harm. Her enemy is her fellow Americans. Trump has said some mighty questionable things about immigrants to this country, and as a (legal) immigrant, I disagree with almost all of them.

    But Trump has never labelled anyone who lives inside the U.S. as his enemy, and for that reason, I must stop Hillary at all costs.

    • #1
  2. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Ben Sasse 2020!

    • #2
  3. Patrickb63 Coolidge
    Patrickb63
    @Patrickb63

    Like.  But I don’t see how this could happen.

    • #3
  4. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Superb, superb post. Almost perfect.

    Until his solutions:

    Ricochet Editor's Desk:

    • Empowering states and local governments to improve K-12 education,

    Um. What?! How about Washington unlocks all the bars to states and cities who want to maximize vouchers and charters?

    • and letting Washington figure out how to update federal programs to adjust to now needing lifelong learners in an age where folks are obviously not going to work at a single job for a lifetime anymore; and

    Ridiculous. Those programs should be closed. Employers provide training. Just let them do it, and reduce regulations to make it easier to hire and fire, so employers are not afraid to add staff?

    • Retiring career politicians by ending all the incumbency protections, special rules, and revolving door opportunities for folks who should be public “servants,” not masters.

    This just further empowers the lifetime career staffers who already run Washington.

    The only way to make Washington less attractive to all the power-seeking scum is to reduce Washington’s power.

    • #4
  5. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    So is he going to run? Because if he isn’t I don’t see why I should bother. I’m just going to stay home, make some popcorn and try to ignore everything.

    • #5
  6. Tom Meyer, Ed. Member
    Tom Meyer, Ed.
    @tommeyer

    Ben Sasse:
    Imagine if we had a candidate:

    1. …who hadn’t spent his/her life in politics either buying politicians or being bought

    2. …who didn’t want to stitch together a coalition based on anger but wanted to take a whole nation forward

    3. …who pledged to serve for only one term, as a care-taker problem-solver for this messy moment

    Anyone got any ideas? I’m game.

    • #6
  7. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Valiuth:So is he going to run? Because if he isn’t I don’t see why I should bother. I’m just going to stay home, make some popcorn and try to ignore everything.

    I am with you. I won’t vote for Clump.

    I’ll vote downticket, and probably Libertarian for President.

    • #7
  8. Lazy_Millennial Inactive
    Lazy_Millennial
    @LazyMillennial

    I agree with every word of this post, right up until Sasse gets to 10.4, where he starts talking about specific problems. All the problems he lists are serious ones, and need to be addressed. But they’re not what the voters care about this election. What they seem to care about, is sending a message to “the elite” that run big government and big business. On the right, they want big business to stop importing cheap workers and making trade deals that favor international corporations over workers. On the left, they’re sick of big money influencing elections, “the system” holding down women & minorities, and big corporations raping the environment. Both sides are sick of “crony capitalism,” though the left extends it to capitalism generally.

    I’m not saying I agree with the voter’s positions. I’m just saying that’s what they seem to care about, as best I can tell. If he doesn’t “get that,” and provide solutions to those problems, voters won’t listen.

    Also, voters don’t seem to object to 10.1a, buying politicians. It’s one of Trump’s selling points- that he’s rich and powerful enough to do it, and knows how they system works. It’s the guys who are bought that are despised.

    • #8
  9. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Tom Meyer, Ed.:

    Ben Sasse:
    Imagine if we had a candidate:

    1. …who hadn’t spent his/her life in politics either buying politicians or being bought

    2. …who didn’t want to stitch together a coalition based on anger but wanted to take a whole nation forward

    3. …who pledged to serve for only one term, as a care-taker problem-solver for this messy moment

    Anyone got any ideas? I’m game.

    You need someone with real name recognition. The problem is that such people (Buffett/Gates, etc.) are all foolish liberals.

    At this point I would happily vote for Bloomberg instead of Clump.

    • #9
  10. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    If we are OK with people who buy politicians, I am all for Charles Koch. He has name recognition! And when he speaks in person, you can see how reasonable and midwestern he is.

    • #10
  11. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    We had a candidate that has fought to limit government and was rejected because he is a nerdy preacher that prays and talks about God. And we know that if we actually limit gov’t that will immediately hand Congress to the Democrats in the next election.

    When we draft this person for this third party run how do we propose to repeal all of the sore loser laws in states, including that little one called Texas, that were specifically designed to prevent this sort of thing?

    Ben, what you are missing is that because of your predecessors there are too many people receiving some kind of subsidy/welfare/credit/regulatory preference/etc. and too few people paying for all of those.

    Marco Rubio is probably the most articulate and charismatic candidate of this century to date, but was tone deaf in Washington and lost his own state. Ted Cruz is the only person who personally took on your majority leader and the political industrial complex where you work and he has been called every name in the book including Lucifer by your colleagues.

    I appreciate the message and concern, but for someone so bright this misses a lot of the issues.

    • #11
  12. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    How about mass producing this letter and getting it into every Senator and Congressman’s hands, along with all the power brokers in Washington D.C.? For 8  to 12 long years we have sent what we perceived to be good people to D.C. to do their jobs of cleaning up the mess, and the vast majority of them have been seduced by the glitter and bribed in to doing nothing except to try and get more pork into their states and learned to suckle those hogs for their own benefits.

    • #12
  13. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Tom Meyer, Ed.:

    Ben Sasse:
    Imagine if we had a candidate:

    1. …who hadn’t spent his/her life in politics either buying politicians or being bought

    2. …who didn’t want to stitch together a coalition based on anger but wanted to take a whole nation forward

    3. …who pledged to serve for only one term, as a care-taker problem-solver for this messy moment

    Anyone got any ideas? I’m game.

    Santa Claus, Easter Bunny?

    Maybe we can get a high fiber, high protein, no fat chocolate chip cookie that cures cancer and acne while we are finding this mythical person more charismatic than Marco Rubio, more strident limited government than Ted Cruz, with higher name recognition than Donald Trump, and lower negatives than Mother Teresa.

    • #13
  14. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    I like the letter, but I’m not sure what the point is, other than potentially marking the opening shot of the 2020 Presidential campaign.

    • #14
  15. Lazy_Millennial Inactive
    Lazy_Millennial
    @LazyMillennial

    BrentB67:

    I appreciate the message and concern, but for someone so bright this misses a lot of the issues.

    He’s new to politics. Give him time.

    • #15
  16. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    I really like Ben Sasse.

    This third option will not happen, and if it does it is clearly just its own exercise in revolt. There is no chance for a third option to actually win the Presidency. The filing deadline for Texas is 5-9-16. This unknown candidate would have 4 days to get something like 100,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

    No conservative/republicanish candidate running third party can actually win if they are not even on the Texas ballot.

    • #16
  17. thelonious Member
    thelonious
    @thelonious

    A majority of Americans?  Doesn’t really seem to be the case.

    • #17
  18. Acook Coolidge
    Acook
    @Acook

    My biggest concern after crushing ISIS is reducing regulations, which sre suffocating small businesses. That’s nowhere on his list.

    • #18
  19. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Lazy_Millennial:

    BrentB67:

    I appreciate the message and concern, but for someone so bright this misses a lot of the issues.

    He’s new to politics. Give him time.

    Technically you and I are even more new to politics and we both realize this is an exercise in mental masturbation to take everyone’s mind off the horrible condition we are responsible for creating in America such that Trump and Hillary are the choices for President.

    A whole lot of people should spend time looking in the mirror instead of Ben Sasse’s Facebook page.

    • #19
  20. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Acook:My biggest concern after crushing ISIS is reducing regulations, which sre suffocating small businesses. That’s nowhere on his list.

    And likely never will be because those preferential regulations are a great source of donations.

    • #20
  21. Brian McMenomy Inactive
    Brian McMenomy
    @BrianMcMenomy

    I think this is a cri de coeur from a guy that sees more clearly because he gets out of the DC cesspool as often as possible.  The point is to tell the American people that some of us understand why both presumptive nominees are so monumentally unpopular.  We understand the jaw-dropping incredulity that, in this day and age, we now long for Tammany Hall and the New York/Chicago political machines of the late 1800’s compared to this dog’s breakfast of a situation.

    Ben, get your exploratory committee going.  Now.

    • #21
  22. Pilli Inactive
    Pilli
    @Pilli

    I live in a small town in New Mexico. (Pop. 3100 mas / menos)  We have three places to shop:  Wal-Mart, Smith’s (Kroger), and Tractor Supply.  The people I talk to here are fed up with Washington and with both parties.  Gary Johnson is well known here and is a viable alternative to many.

    Many of the early Trump supporters did so to “send a message.”  They feel their votes don’t matter.  They feel that political promises are like Popsicles in the summer sun.  Melt away in a heartbeat and leave you with a sticky mess.  They are sick of it and are to the point that they just want to “burn it all down” and start over.

    Many of the people out here are, or have been, involved in Los Alamos National Labs, Sandia National Labs and Kirtland A.F.B. where a lot of nuclear material is stored.  They have had security clearances. They understand security.  They can’t understand why Hillary is not in jail right now.  This and many other things that happen or don’t happen in Washington is what causes the anger out here.

    Bottom Line:  The current Republican Party leadership is directly responsible for Trump.  The current Democrat Party leadership is directly responsible for both Bernie and Hillary.  We just can’t figure out how to hold party leadership to account.

    • #22
  23. KC Mulville Inactive
    KC Mulville
    @KCMulville

    Music to my ears.

    First step of recovery- identify the problem. The problem is the entrenched political system, anchored in the media. The problem arises because ordinary voters succumb to the prejudices of the media.

    In other words, they’re stupid. The senator won’t say it, but I just did.

    • #23
  24. Merina Smith Inactive
    Merina Smith
    @MerinaSmith

    Condaleeza Rice, Mitch Daniels, Rick Perry, Tom Coburn.  None have small kids and all have at least some name recognition.  There is a crying need for such a candidate.  I think he or she would do far better than anyone can imagine in this year of horrible “mainstream” candidates. But not Gary Johnson.

    • #24
  25. Benjamin Glaser Inactive
    Benjamin Glaser
    @BenjaminGlaser

    Conservatives need to quit telling themselves this lie that there is some “silent majority” out there who are deep down in their hearts constitutionalists and that they just need assistance from NR and the Weekly Standard (or Ricochet) to awake that inner spark.

    The reality is we are a subset of a minority within GOP.

    The real majority in America loves big government, sticking it to the “man”, and wants a sugar daddy in the White House.

    To quote a wise philosopher, “Them’s just the facts”.

    • #25
  26. Fricosis Guy Listener
    Fricosis Guy
    @FricosisGuy

    BrentB67:

    Lazy_Millennial:

    BrentB67:

    I appreciate the message and concern, but for someone so bright this misses a lot of the issues.

    He’s new to politics. Give him time.

    Technically you and I are even more new to politics and we both realize this is an exercise in mental masturbation to take everyone’s mind off the horrible condition we are responsible for creating in America such that Trump and Hillary are the choices for President.

    Heh…Sasse’s note made me think less of him. He’s diagnosed the problem that everyone sees and a prescribes a third-party run…by an unspecified someone else. Classic junior leader move: “bring up a problem without suggesting a specific potential solution.”

    • #26
  27. Red Fish, Blue Fish Inactive
    Red Fish, Blue Fish
    @RedFishBlueFish

    Ben Sasse can take the 3 of the 11 voters who weren’t already Ben Sasse lovers and who accidentally googled “Ben Sasse” instead of “Being Sassy” and just read that letter, plus all of the voters who already love Ben Sasse, the sum total of which are people who read that letter and thought it insightful, and they can go run for president of Galt’s Gulch.

    Seriously.  This is my problem with the intellectual leadership of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.  They have no ability to either relate to, or market to, the voters they actually need.  Ben Sasse can be 100% correct on everything he says.  It doesn’t matter one bit in the struggle to get any of it implemented.

    This is catnip for the intellectually conservative and so serves no value except to further entrench the conservatives erroneous belief that if they just stand hard enough on principle, they will win a political fight.  If anyone is out there thinking that this stuff is anything more than Buzzfeed for the conservative base, then you aren’t capable of helping conservative positions.  I mean, we have had an absolute explosion of highly principled conservative arguments on the right and all that’s happened is the public thinks we are a bunch of idiots without any solutions.  Come on now.

    This isn’t to say conservatives need to be dumb to attract voters.  They just need to figure out how not to sound so darned pedantic.  They aren’t intellectuals.  They are politicians.

    Ben Sasse would make an excellent politician in a world without a polity.

    • #27
  28. Pilli Inactive
    Pilli
    @Pilli

    KC Mulville:Music to my ears.

    First step of recovery- identify the problem. The problem is the entrenched political system, anchored in the media. The problem arises because ordinary voters succumb to the prejudices of the media.

    In other words, they’re stupid. The senator won’t say it, but I just did.

    I have to disagree.  Voters are pretty smart.  They know that no matter how they vote, it won’t make any difference.  Voters, you, me all of us, have been screwed so thoroughly and so often we have learned not to care.

    Where does the average person get information?  Local newspapers and TV.  Where has the media been focused lately?  On how poor the economy is?  On how dangerous ISIS is?  No!  They focus on who gets to use which bathroom.

    Voters are smart enough to know their wishes have been made clear and that Washington doesn’t listen.

    • #28
  29. Commodore BTC Inactive
    Commodore BTC
    @CommodoreBTC

    Ben Sasse is a real piece of work.

    Ted Cruz worked his a** off, built a campaign, put his family through hell, and Sasse couldn’t be bothered to campaign for him or endorse him (other than a joint venture with Rubio before Iowa). Even though Cruz was the only person who could stop Trump.

    Where was Sasse when Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Mike Lee, and Justin Amash were going to the mattresses to stop Trump and help Cruz?

    Excuse me if I’m not impressed with social media keyboard warrior Ben Sasse.

    And remember this from last year?

    “I actually plan to engage people,” Sasse replied. “I guess they can ignore me, but part of the reason I want to preview this is so it doesn’t seem so jarring when it actually happens. When people give straw-man speeches, I plan to go and interrupt.”

    That is, Sasse plans to actually hang out in the Senate, listening to his colleagues’ stupid speeches—and rebutting them in real time when he feels they’ve gone astray. He’s not just begging them to have debates. He’s going to debate them, whether they like it or not.

    Never happened. He hasn’t once stuck his neck out or spoken truth to power (unlike a much-maligned Texas senator).

    • #29
  30. BD Member
    BD
    @

    This is full of “Let’s sent a message to those fat cats in Washington” vagueness.  I don’t think I can vote for Donald Trump because he’s an erratic cheeseball, but he has made specific proposals to enforce the immigration laws.  Sasse won’t because he’s ready to sign off on a huge amnesty.

    • #30
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