Ben Sasse has a new book out he’d like you to read. Of course he does.
In the Wall Street Journal, he has an op-ed based on his new book, Them: Why We Hate Each Other—And How To Heal. Them, Sasse’s second book, follows swiftly on the heels of his first book published last year. I had no idea Article I of the Constitution mandated book writing requirements for senators but I digress.
I’ll focus on this paragraph that sums up his argument:
More Republicans and Democrats are placing politics at the center of their lives. Both sides seem to believe that a grand solution to our political dysfunction can be found inside politics. If only we could vanquish those evil people waving a different banner, this thinking goes, we’d be on the road to national recovery. But nothing that happens in Washington is going to fix what’s wrong with America.
But in reality, enough Republicans are waking from their establishment slumbers to recognize the absolute threat of Democrats and the Left, who are the only ones placing “politics” at the center of their (and our) lives. For Democrats and the Left, everything is political. Republicans and the Right are finally pushing back and what does Sasse do at this miraculous chance we have under Donald Trump to save the country? He moans about how both sides are being too mean to each other.
And even if Sasse’s moral hedging is true, what the Left is doing isn’t politics. For the Left, everyone and everything must conform to their will. They see government as a place run by ruling class elites—who are constantly in power no matter who is president—who enforce their will on everyone else. No exceptions. No discussion. Whatever this may be called (e.g., tyranny, oligarchy, etc.) it sure as hell isn’t politics.
Ben Sasse is wrong: the destruction of the Left is a prerequisite to have any shot at national renewal. And anyone who doesn’t understand this basic reality needs to find another job more suited to his abilities.