Ben Sasse

[BigRedBuster]

I'm pretty dang sure Ben Sasse wouldn't care that I'm copying his entire Facebook post here.

 

LINK

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO TRUMP SUPPORTERS

To my friends supporting Donald Trump:

The Trump coalition is broad and complicated, but I believe many Trump fans are well-meaning. I have spoken at length with many of you, both inside and outside Nebraska. You are rightly worried about our national direction. You ache about a crony-capitalist leadership class that is not urgent about tackling our crises. You are right to be angry.

I’m as frustrated and saddened as you are about what’s happening to our country. But I cannot support Donald Trump.

Please understand: I’m not an establishment Republican, and I will never support Hillary Clinton. I’m a movement conservative who was elected over the objections of the GOP establishment. My current answer for who I would support in a hypothetical matchup between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton is: Neither of them. I sincerely hope we select one of the other GOP candidates, but if Donald Trump ends up as the GOP nominee, conservatives will need to find a third option.

Mr. Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation. Much like President Obama, he displays essentially no understanding of the fact that, in the American system, we have a constitutional system of checks and balances, with three separate but co-equal branches of government. And the task of public officials is to be public “servants.” The law is king, and the people are boss. But have you noticed how Mr. Trump uses the word “Reign” – like he thinks he’s running for King? It’s creepy, actually. Nebraskans are not looking for a king. We yearn instead for the recovery of a Constitutional Republic.

At this point in Nebraska discussions, many of you have immediately gotten practical: “Okay, fine, you think there are better choices than Trump. But you would certainly still vote for Trump over Clinton in a general election, right?”

Before I explain why my answer is “Neither of them,” let me correct some nonsense you might have heard on the internet of late.

WHY I RAN FOR SENATE

***No, I’m not a career politician. (I had never run for anything until being elected to the U.S. Senate fifteen months ago, and I ran precisely because I actually want to make America great again.)
***No, I’m not a lawyer who has never created a job. (I was a business guy before becoming a college president in my hometown.)
***No, I’m not part of the Establishment. (Sheesh, I had attack ads by the lobbyist class run against me while I was on a bus tour doing 16 months of townhalls across Nebraska. Why? Precisely because I was not the preferred candidate of Washington.)
***No, I’m not concerned about political job security. (The very first thing I did upon being sworn in in January 2015 was to introduce a constitutional amendment for term limits – this didn’t exactly endear me to my new colleagues.)
***No, I’m not for open borders. (The very first official trip I took in the Senate was to observe and condemn how laughably porous the Texas/Mexican border is. See 70 tweets from @bensasse in February 2015.)
***No, I’m not a “squishy,” feel-good, grow-government moderate. (I have the 4th most-conservative voting record in the Senate: https://www.conservativereview.com/members/benjamin-sasse/http://www.heritageactionscorecard.com/membe…/member/S001197 )

In my very first speech to the Senate, I told my colleagues that “The people despise us all.” This institution needs to get to work, not on the lobbyists’ priorities, but on the people’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQMoB4aUn04?t=3m8s

Now, to the question at hand: Will I pledge to vote for just any “Republican” nominee over Hillary Clinton?

Let’s begin by rejecting naïve purists: Politics has no angels. Politics is not about creating heaven on earth. Politics is simply about preserving a framework for ordered liberty – so that free people can find meaning and happiness not in politics but in their families, their neighborhoods, their work.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Now, let’s talk about political parties: parties are just tools to enact the things that we believe. Political parties are not families; they are not religions; they are not nations – they are often not even on the level of sports loyalties. They are just tools. I was not born Republican. I chose this party, for as long as it is useful.

If our Party is no longer working for the things we believe in – like defending the sanctity of life, stopping ObamaCare, protecting the Second Amendment, etc. – then people of good conscience should stop supporting that party until it is reformed.

VOTING

Now, let’s talk about voting: Voting is usually just about choosing the lesser evil of the most viable candidates.

“Usually…” But not always. Certain moments are larger. They cause us to explicitly ask: Who are we as a people? What does the way we vote here say about our shared identity? What is actually the president’s job?

THE PRESIDENT’S CORE CALLING

The president’s job is not about just mindlessly shouting the word “strong” – as if Vladimir Putin, who has been strongly bombing civilian populations in Syria the last month, is somehow a model for the American presidency. No, the president’s core calling is to “Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution.”

Before we ever get into any technical policy fights – about pipelines, or marginal tax rates, or term limits, or Medicare reimbursement codes – America is first and fundamentally about a shared Constitutional creed. America is exceptional, because she is at her heart a big, bold truth claim about human dignity, natural rights, and self-control – and therefore necessarily about limited rather than limitless government.

THE MEANING OF AMERICA

America is the most exceptional nation in the history of the world because our Constitution is the best political document that’s ever been written. It said something different than almost any other government had said before: Most governments before said that might makes right, that government decides what our rights are and that the people are just dependent subjects. Our Founders said that God gives us rights by nature, and that government is not the author or source of our rights. Government is just our shared project to secure those rights.

Government exists only because the world is fallen, and some people want to take your property, your liberty, and your life. Government is tasked with securing a framework for ordered liberty where “we the people” can in our communities voluntarily build something great together for our kids and grandkids. That’s America. Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of speech – the First Amendment is the heartbeat of the American Constitution, of the American idea itself.

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO MR. TRUMP?

So let me ask you: Do you believe the beating heart of Mr. Trump’s candidacy has been a defense of the Constitution? Do you believe it’s been an impassioned defense of the First Amendment – or an attack on it?

Which of the following quotes give you great comfort that he’s in love with the First Amendment, that he is committed to defending the Constitution, that he believes in executive restraint, that he understands servant leadership?

Statements from Trump:
***“We’re going to open up libel laws and we’re going to have people sue you like you’ve never got sued before.”
***“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. They were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak…”
***Putin, who has killed journalists and is pillaging Ukraine, is a great leader.
***The editor of National Review “should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him.”
***On whether he will use executive orders to end-run Congress, as President Obama has illegally done: "I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things." “I mean, he’s led the way, to be honest with you.”
***“Sixty-eight percent would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder. It think it means anything.”
***On the internet: “I would certainly be open to closing areas” of it.
***His lawyers to people selling anti-Trump t-shirts: “Mr. Trump considers this to be a very serious matter and has authorized our legal team to take all necessary and appropriate actions to bring an immediate halt...”
***Similar threatening legal letters to competing campaigns running ads about his record.

And on it goes…

IF MR. TRUMP BECOMES THE NOMINEE...

Given what we know about him today, here’s where I’m at: If Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, my expectation is that I will look for some third candidate – a conservative option, a Constitutionalist.

I do not claim to speak for a movement, but I suspect I am far from alone. After listening to Nebraskans in recent weeks, and talking to a great many people who take oaths seriously, I think many are in the same place. I believe a sizable share of Christians – who regard threats against religious liberty as arguably the greatest crisis of our time – are unwilling to support any candidate who does not make a full-throated defense of the First Amendment a first commitment of their candidacy.

Conservatives understand that all men are created equal and made in the image of God, but also that government must be limited so that fallen men do not wield too much power. A presidential candidate who boasts about what he'll do during his "reign" and refuses to condemn the KKK cannot lead a conservative movement in America.

TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT

Thank you for listening. While I recognize that we disagree about how to make America great again, we agree that this should be our goal. We need more people engaged in the civic life of our country—not fewer. I genuinely appreciate how much many of you care about this country, and that you are demanding something different from Washington. I’m going to keep doing the same thing.

But I can’t support Donald Trump.

Humbly,

Ben Sasse
Nebraska

 

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Ben Sasse 'gets it' and he understands fully and deeply and truly the great social and political problems which are endangering the future survival of our Nation. This is not an overstatement. This country is in deep trouble socially, culturally, politically and economically. I believe the world is equally in great peril as well. Sadly, Donald Trump does not appear to the be the best answer to the world's problems. Hillary Clinton is clueless and is a primary contributor to what ails us (the world in generally and our Nation individually).

 

Can anyone save us from the dreadful future that is directly ahead? Frankly, it is very doubtful but certainly we are not going to avoid the crash and burn if we are lead directly into the disaster by someone who does not recognize the risks.

 

Trump has some business acumen and recognizes some of the major issues that confront our society. However, there is no evidence at this point that he has any real concrete ideas on solving the problems we face as a community. With the world on the brink of World War III (world war is what appeasement has brought to the western world each time it is followed as a policy in international affairs by the leading powers) Trump is not at all seasoned in the arts of war or peace making. He may be a very intelligent man with good gut instincts in dealing with matters of the cut throat world of commercial real estate and the courage to act ruthlessly in the furtherance of his own interests, but that does not necessarily qualify him to the leader of the free or not so free world.

 

Cruz and Rubio both demonstrate far more awareness and the proper temperament for the job. They understand the political and social constraints of our changing world and the cultural evolution which is threatening our peaceful co-existence as a unified people. Trump may well be 'the bull in the china shop' that many want to see come forth and take the wrecking ball to DC and the poltical establishment that has led us to this ugly place in history. But once the destruction of the entrenched power structures has been done, we will need a leader with the capacity to rebuild and unify the Nation once again. We will need the Abe Lincoln qualities that Trump has not yet even begun to display. His personality seems nothing like a Lincoln to me. He appears to react and overreact uncontrollably.

[knapplc]

This country is in deep trouble socially, culturally, politically and economically.

Can you expand on this trouble you see coming? What can we do to avoid it?

[TGHusker]

Sasse gets it.

[Bigred_inSD]

From the few things I've heard of Sasse, I like him. I'm a registered democrat, but consider myself to be a constitutional moderate.

[84HuskerLaw]

 

This country is in deep trouble socially, culturally, politically and economically.

Can you expand on this trouble you see coming? What can we do to avoid it?

 

Step back and look at the 'big picture' of our society today. Obviously, racial tensions are approaching a level unseen since the Civil War era. The protests are not isolated and are almost fanatical and irrationally based. The protesters don't really even know what they are protesting about or for yet they continue to line up and block highways, with violence and serious public disruption and damage as the goal. University campus issues are rising - look at Missouri football team 'protest' / strike case. Nonsense but real. This anti White sentiment is growing and the risk of social explosion is unquestionable. In turn, the anti Black feelings that were all but gone from our society just 8 years ago are being stirred and antagonized as well. This year's election promises to be the most vicious and ugly in our lifetimes politically, assuming Hillary vs. Anybody is the scenario.

Street crime and violence in the inner cities is near all time highs with murder rates through the roof. Public education is failing to install even the most basic of American values and a basic understanding of our Nation's history, the functioning of our government, the role of government in the economy, free enterprise and capitalism are being attacked as causes of problems when in reality they are the only possible salvation for the masses, etc.

Moral decay and ethical values are being discarded in all aspects of family and social life from the dramatic decline in marriage, out of wedlock births at sky high numbers and percentages, eroding of the impact and significance of Christian values and faith generally, sloth and greed and uncontrolled demands for instant gratification, dramatic decline in patriotism and love of country by the majority of the population, disrespect for the rule of law and large areas of social disobedience with the law (drugs, criminal, legal, political, etc.), out of control immigration and lack of any meaningful control of our Nation's borders and sovereignty laws.

I can go on and on but if you don't 'see and feel' these things as the glue and adhesion of our basic social fabric slips away, then it is probably too late for you.

 

There is no question or debate about the seriousness of these things in my view. I am old enough to have lived through many decades of times and the social and civil unrest that was so often cited in the decade of the 1960s/1970s is nothing compared to the issues we are facing today. Even during the most serious of the times back then, the Nation was fully united and patriotism was not a dirty word. 99% of Americans loved their country and believed strongly and passionately that America was the greatest nation on Earth and represented the very best of political and social forces for positive change and 'good'. Today, obviously, our Nation has turned its back on the western world and some of its leaders actually embracing warmly the enemies of democracy and freedom (Islam) and Christianity and goodness. We are dealing with the evil doers and shunning the forces of good and liberty. This is a disasterous and dangerous change in America (it is totally unAmerican).

 

I could go on and on but this is not the appropriate forum for discussion of politics. This is HuskerBoard where we talk about football and sports and all things related. Political debates ought best be left to the political sites. In my opinion. I just could not help but comment. I have read a number of the topics on political and social and legal and it is very discouraging to me to read the radical leftist views held by some on this board. I attribute this to youth and poor education but I am afraid the spread of liberalism (currently referred to as progressivism although very little progress is ever achieved by following liberal policies and ideas) is very dangerous as well. Today's Democrat party, for example, is so far left that the Democrats of the 1980s would not even believe it. JFK would be attacked by today's Democrats as a "nazi" and reactionary right wing zealot. Ted Cruz and JFK have many similar views on public policy although I believe strongly that Ted has a moral compass and ethic markedly better than any Kennedy.

[BigRedBuster]

You obviously didn't live through nor study the 60s on racial tensions. Are you saying that 99% of the blacks that were just trying to fight their way out of segregation thought the US ...."loved their country and believed strongly and passionately that America was the greatest nation on Earth and represented the very best of political and social forces for positive change and 'good'. "

Actually violent crime is WAY down from it's peak in the late 80s.

 

And, your judgement of public education is vastly exaggerated.

 

Now, the one area where I can agree with you on is the nastiness of this election. It has been building more and more every election since probably Bush 1. However, there were some nasty elections in the 60s. Study the Chicago Democratic convention for some enlightenment. We had President's and Presidential candidates assassinated for Christ's sake along with one of the greatest civil rights leaders in American history.

[knapplc]

Racial tension is NOT at anything like historic levels, and anyone who lived through the 1960s or studied that era would know that. Things are humming along pretty well right now, all things considered. Where are these massive protests? Are we talking about Ferguson, because that was one isolated town. The 60s saw protests that dwarfed Ferguson in every major and many minor cities across America. There were about as many race riots in 1968 alone as there have been since 2000.

Violent crime has been decreasing for decades, steadily, so I'm not sure where that's coming from. These are as of 2014, but they show a steady decline.

 

 

I can go on and on but if you don't 'see and feel' these things as the glue and adhesion of our basic social fabric slips away, then it is probably too late for you.

 

 

You could post links showing actual statistics rather than opinion. Nothing you're saying is fact-supported so far, and I've actually seen the facts to back up where you're wrong.

 

Further, one person's "deep trouble" is another person's "moral freedom." Christianity is not the guiding light of this country, and never should be. It's one guiding principle amongst many, many of which aren't theistic in nature. Many people, a growing number of people, believe that theism is at the root of many of this country's problems. So claiming that America is worse off because we're less Christian isn't relevant, nor is it a truism.

[Moiraine]

I haven't liked Ben Sasse since I saw a campaign ad where his little girls (aged around 8 and 10) were almost crying about how much they hate Obamacare and how their daddy is going to get rid of it.

 

That being said, glad he said this.

[zoogs]

Another prominent conservative voice with a lengthy interview about Trump: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11141308/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-max-boot

 

Hilary is pretty mainstream. Maybe even too conservative for many Democrats' tastes, but apart from her party tag I think she'd have broad appeal to Republicans of the not-so-distant past.And as much as I disagree with him, good luck to Marco Rubio today. He's, well, not Trump.

 

This is another fairly eviscerating takedown. A passage:

 

MB: I think he is a descendant, basically, of Charles Lindbergh, Joe McCarthy, George Wallace — who was a Democrat, not a Republican — and Pat Buchanan.

 

He is a direct descendant of that intellectual lineage — if I may use the word "intellectual" in describing Donald Trump, who doesn't seem to have one serious thought in his empty head.

At this point, even the endorsement of a disgraced Russian demagogue (who fell out favor for being too far-right. In Russia.) is unlikely to discredit Trump, so I don't know what all these conservative American voices piping up will do for the primaries. I hope it's an opportunity for what's hopefully still a plurality of us to reach out and find some common ground. There was once a time when parties could disagree and still be willing to work together. If Trump has enabled that again, I suppose he's done a service.

[Danny Bateman]

 

 

This country is in deep trouble socially, culturally, politically and economically.

Can you expand on this trouble you see coming? What can we do to avoid it?

 

-SNIP-

 

Today, obviously, our Nation has turned its back on the western world and some of its leaders actually embracing warmly the enemies of democracy and freedom (Islam) and Christianity and goodness.

 

-SNIP-

 

First off, thanks for sharing your opinion in here 84. Hope we see more of you in this forum.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that it's a little unfair to throw the entire religion of Islam under the bus that's being driven by a small percentage of radical Jihadists. Other Muslims are good, peace-loving people.

 

With roles reversed, that'd be like saying all Christians are hateful bigots because Westboro baptists are.

 

I'm usually no conservative apologist, but I'm proud of Sasse for having the integrity to publicly make this stand.