Ben Sasse: U.S. deserves better than Trump or Clinton
Michael Walsh
Reporter
May 5, 2016
Not a fan of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? You’re not alone.
In a lengthy open letter late Wednesday night, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., gave voice to the countless Americans who feel frustrated with their likely options for the next commander in chief.
The freshman senator, who made waves last November for criticizing party partisanship in his floor debut, addressed his message posted on Facebook to “those who think both leading presidential candidates are dishonest and have little chance of leading America forward,” or – put more simply – the “majority of America.”
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
Sasse, 44, opened with anecdotes from four unsolicited conversations he had with people at a Walmart in the city of Fremont, Neb. A retired union Democratic meatpacker, a young evangelical mother, a middle-aged Republican man and a reluctant Trump supporter — all expressed a sense of disenfranchisement.
“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,” the young religious mom told Sasse.
Similarly disappointed with the upcoming ballot, Sasse shared a list of observations about how the United States wound up in its current predicament (with two extremely polarizing people leading both major political parties) and called for the nation to draft an “honest leader” who would focus on solutions for the next four years: “You know … an adult?”
According to Sasse, there are “dumpster fires” in his town more popular than these two “dishonest liberals.”
“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.”
It shouldn’t be hard, he said, to find a candidate who has not bought politicians or been bought, who has not built a coalition based on anger, who has pledged to serve only one term “for this messy moment,” and who knows that Washington should not micromanage the lives of free people.
Instead, he continued, the next president should focus on three or four big national problems, such as 1) a national security strategy for the era of cyber and jihad; 2) budgeting/entitlement reform; 3) empowering states and local governments to improve K-12 education; and 4) ending incumbency protections so career politicians retire.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ben-sasse-u-s-deserves-1422362236256310.html |
