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An Open Letter From Ben Sasse, US Senator

I think it's just team politics, it's just this time conservatives and Republicans find themselves on different teams.

I don't see that Trump is either one, so I'm confused what his supporters define themselves as.
 
But if you subscribe to the idea of "human rights," it follows that at least a minimal degree of prosperity and health care fall in that category.

why is a minimum degree of prosperity a "right"

the constitution guarantees the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

says nothing about prosperity

ones assumes then that our forefathers thought prosperity must then be "earned"

what an amazing concept
 
The Democrats actually started with 5. The Republicans started with 17. Neither party actually "put up" a candidate. The candidates chose to run on their own.

ok

but i hope you know what i meant

out of all of those people....these are the best we can do

lmao.....
 
You are confusing "conservatives" with "Republicans". There is plenty of overlap, to be sure, but if there is anything we've learned in the last year, it's that those two things are not the same.

Though I'm amused by how clownboy and gdgyva liked this post, but somehow didn't like:



:)

i have made my thoughts on trump very apparent

he is not my first, second, or even 12th choice

but is he infinitely better than Hillary will be, and what she would do to the courts

he is a wildcard....i dont know what we will get from him as a president....

he isnt a conservative....far from it in my opinion

but he is what i have to deal with....and hopefully he can deal with a few issues that are killing us

illegal immigration

our worldwide status as the # 1

and the economy

if he can do some things on those, not **** up too much else, and pick some decent judges, we can live through his four years
 
why is a minimum degree of prosperity a "right"

the constitution guarantees the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

says nothing about prosperity

ones assumes then that our forefathers thought prosperity must then be "earned"

what an amazing concept

No doubt that's because the concept of human rights was not in common use during the 18th century.

Imagine that!
 
Ben Sasse is a senator from Nebraska.
What he's missing is that the nation is split, almost evenly. It has also turned into a "Vetocracy," in part by design of the Framers. Almost anyone sufficiently unhappy with a policy can delay it going into effect; and grind it into inefficiency, if not totally halt it.

The fault is not with the party system. Other nations use different party systems, and have the same issues -- or worse.

There is no way to eliminate the party system. If nothing else, demanding we do so would violate the freedom of association.

I find it slightly ridiculous that he basically says "we have to indoctrinate our children to think of America the same way I do," and that a failure to do so is an existential threat.

I find it odd that he fails to understand that his party's voters nominated Trump.

He utterly fails to understand what's involved in the job of the Presidency. It can't possibly be limited to 3 or 4 things. That is not how the job is structured.

The idea that a president could get much done in a single term is absurd -- as evidenced by his own party's refusal to even consider a SCOTUS nominee nearly a year before Obama's term ends.


IIRC Sasse is publicly saying "we need a 3rd party candidate, but I'm not gonna do it." Meanwhile, it's too late for 3rd party candidates. E.g. to get on the ballot in Texas, you'd need 79,000 signatures by Monday, May 10th. (Anti-Trump Republicans want 3rd-party candidate - Business Insider)

And of course, if the GOP was able to select a half-way decent candidate out of the EIGHTEEN who ran for the nomination, he wouldn't be whining as much; he'd likely line up behind the candidate.

At the risk of being crude, the GOP voters have handed the GOP elites a **** sandwich. I guess I can't blame the guy for not wanting to eat it, but it's too late. They had plenty of chances to pick someone else.
 
In part, he says:


Washington isn’t fooling anyone -- Neither political party works.

Republicans whipped their base into a frenzy of hate, anger and fear with non stop lies. Based on all their "promises" the system seems broke to conservatives. For instance some conservatives wanted to default on the debt. Does one conservative admit that "okay, the debt issue was not as bad as we were led to believe". No, they just move on to the next lie. Instead of telling them to grow up and stop believing the lies we get the new conservative narrative that " both parties are to blame". while the new narrative is better than the previous lying and hypocritical claims of only blaming democrats, its still a lie. every lying conservative narrative has to evolve as even conservatives start to "wake up". case in point

First "climate change is a complete hoax" evolved to " the warming is natural" will eventually become " sure its man made but wont be as bad as predicted."

My personal favorite was

"bush tried to stop the Bush mortgage Bubble" and "its all Frank's/Clinton's/Carter's fault" has evolved to " Bush shares some of the blame".
 
Ben Sasse makes many good points. Both parties quibbling about what color to paint the living room as the whole house burns is great!
 
Ben Sasse is a senator from Nebraska. I saw this open letter, and some of the reactions to it, and thought I would pass it along and see what folks here think of it. It contains a whole lot of the angst we are seeing right now with Trump as the GOP nominee. https://www.facebook.com/sassefornebraska/posts/593031420862025

In part, he says:



He goes on at some length. Some of his points are good and interesting, some are really stupid(complaining that politicians think voters are too dumb for policy discussion when the candidates that discussed policy washed out early). I find myself torn between irritation at his cynical use of the angst many are feeling over this election to push his agenda, and agreeing with the idea of less bickering, more solutions, combined with amusement of his reasoning for not having ideological purity tests.

SASSE is a sorry excuse for an AMERICAN,like paul ryan he is in faver pf pissing on the heads of tens of millions of AMERICAN'S and throwing their votes under the washington establishment's feet.
sasse is one sorry excuse for an AMERICAN, screw the voters it is all about mr sasse and his washington elitist friend's like mitt and mccain.

run don run
 
SASSE is a sorry excuse for an AMERICAN,like paul ryan he is in faver pf pissing on the heads of tens of millions of AMERICAN'S and throwing their votes under the washington establishment's feet.
sasse is one sorry excuse for an AMERICAN, screw the voters it is all about mr sasse and his washington elitist friend's like mitt and mccain.

run don run

I wonder why Chuckie-Schmuckie Schumer doesn't invoke such wrath from you.

amy-schumer-chuck-schumer-gun-conference-today-inline-150803_ea3f66f68db771aa9a78e8c05a0de396.today-inline-large.jpg
 
I wonder why Chuckie-Schmuckie Schumer doesn't invoke such wrath from you.

amy-schumer-chuck-schumer-gun-conference-today-inline-150803_ea3f66f68db771aa9a78e8c05a0de396.today-inline-large.jpg
The GOP sees Chuck Schumer as the enemy and Paul Ryan as the back stabber...the traitor.
 
I wonder why Chuckie-Schumkie Schumer doesn't invoke such wrath from you.

amy-schumer-chuck-schumer-gun-conference-today-inline-150803_ea3f66f68db771aa9a78e8c05a0de396.today-inline-large.jpg
Schumer is a liberal socialist i know what he is,he is not running for president,what does Schumer have to do with PAUL RYAN going badk in his word,what does Schumer have to do with a elitist republican right that is willing to see hellary elected and throwing tens of millions of AMERICAN'S votes under the elitist buss.
nice try man,you like most ultra right wing conservatives do your best to dig up bones or change the subject rather then accept the voters decision to elect TRUMP,what in the hell does chuck schumer have to do with the right wing or the republican party trying to disenfranchise tens of millions of American voters in the name of conservatism.
man i am a conservative,i am a vet,i am a pro constitution AMERICAN and a taxpayer,and i am tired of being lied to bu what was once my party.
run don run
 
SASSE is a sorry excuse for an AMERICAN,like paul ryan he is in faver pf pissing on the heads of tens of millions of AMERICAN'S and throwing their votes under the washington establishment's feet.
sasse is one sorry excuse for an AMERICAN, screw the voters it is all about mr sasse and his washington elitist friend's like mitt and mccain.

run don run

Yeah, since the will of the majority of voters is more important to you than anything else, Paul Ryan really should be focusing on advancing Barack Obama's agenda. After all, tens of millions of Americans voted for Obama, and since they were the majority, I guess whatever they want goes. Right?

Of course you enthusiastically supported Obamacare and Dodd-Frank and everything the Dems rammed through when they were in control. I mean, the tens of millions of Americans who voted that way meant their will should be obeyed, unquestioningly. Right?
 
Conservatives don't care about the GOP, either. They are RINOs.

Why should anyone care about a party? A party is just a vehicle for particular political philosophies and "special interests"(nothing wrong, by the way, with having interests and philosophies).

If the GOP is not the home of conservatives, libertarians and pragmatic businessmen anymore, if it becomes a tool of a psychotic ignoramus with authoritarian impulses - to hell with it, let it die. Like the Dutch said many centuries ago: " We shall not be occupied, we shall blow up the dams".
 
Schumer is a liberal socialist i know what he is,he is not running for president,what does Schumer have to do with PAUL RYAN going badk in his word,what does Schumer have to do with a elitist republican right that is willing to see hellary elected and throwing tens of millions of AMERICAN'S votes under the elitist buss.
nice try man,you like most ultra right wing conservatives do your best to dig up bones or change the subject rather then accept the voters decision to elect TRUMP,what in the hell does chuck schumer have to do with the right wing or the republican party trying to disenfranchise tens of millions of American voters in the name of conservatism.
man i am a conservative,i am a vet,i am a pro constitution AMERICAN and a taxpayer,and i am tired of being lied to bu what was once my party.
run don run

Who's disenfranchised? You won didn't you. I don't agree with this third party business, but those of us on the right should preserve ourselves as an organized faction of the GOP. Like Mark Levin said, we have a right to expect elected officials to EARN our vote. You have you leader: Donald Trump. We have ours: Ted Cruz, Ben Sasse, Mike Lee, Ken Buck, Mark Levin and others. We have a right to leave the top of the ballot blank. EARN our vote if you want it. Supporting the transgender bathroom agenda isn't a good start.
 
Why should anyone care about a party? A party is just a vehicle for particular political philosophies and "special interests"(nothing wrong, by the way, with having interests and philosophies).

If the GOP is not the home of conservatives, libertarians and pragmatic businessmen anymore, if it becomes a tool of a psychotic ignoramus with authoritarian impulses - to hell with it, let it die. Like the Dutch said many centuries ago: " We shall not be occupied, we shall blow up the dams".
Not to single you out (I'm not sure if you've ever used the term before) but many Conservatives have accused other 'Republicans' of being RINOs only for us to realize the very same accusers are RINOs.

Yeah, these are the very same who also say Conservatives are the base of the GOP. The last true-blue Conservative to be nominated president was Reagan. Actually from the inception of Conservatism in 1965 by Bill Buckley, Jr., there has been one true-blue Conservative nominated as president for the GOP. Base of the party, my eye.
 
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Who's disenfranchised? You won didn't you. I don't agree with this third party business, but those of us on the right should preserve ourselves as an organized faction of the GOP. Like Mark Levin said, we have a right to expect elected officials to EARN our vote. You have you leader: Donald Trump. We have ours: Ted Cruz, Ben Sasse, Mike Lee, Ken Buck, Mark Levin and others. We have a right to leave the top of the ballot blank. EARN our vote if you want it. Supporting the transgender bathroom agenda isn't a good start.
Not voting to help a Hillary presidency is also not a good start. Would you rather have a Trump presidency or a Hillary presidency?
 
Ben Sasse makes many good points. Both parties quibbling about what color to paint the living room as the whole house burns is great!

His analogy needs just a little tweak. Its like both parties quibbling about what color to paint the living room then one party compromises on several colors including colors the other party had previously stated they liked. The other party refuses to agree to any color but threatens to burn down the house over the issue and then has to be restrained from the starting the fire.

Here's issues I would consider "threatening"
claiming to want to cut spending in the worst recession since the depression
attacking the auto bailout
sequester

Here's the issues that republicans had to be restrained
trying to default on the debt
trying to let the bush tax cuts expire for everyone
govt shutdown
 
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