I missed the following exchange last Monday a long time ago, because it happened on MSNBC. As you’re about to see, a rather hostile-sounding Chuck Todd asked Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) to define conservatism. I assume Chuck was frustrated with Sasse’s refusal to submit to Trump, thereby confirming Chuck’s biases about Republicans. Or maybe Chuck was having a bad day. Or is that just how he talks? It’s been so long, I can’t remember.
Whatever the case, I agree with every single word of Sasse’s response, 100%:
THIS IS PERFECT! "This is exactly how you respond to a liberal elitist when asked to define conservatism!" pic.twitter.com/79Xz0mssih
— Michael Keyes (@michaelkeyes) September 19, 2016
“America is the most exceptional nation in the history of the world, because the U.S. Constitution is the best political document that’s ever been written. Because it says something different than almost any people and any government has believed in human history. Most governments in the past said, ‘Might makes right, and the king has all the power, and the people are dependent subjects.’ And the American founders said, ‘No. God gives us rights by nature, and government is just our shared project to secure those rights.’ Government is not the author or source of our rights, and you don’t make America great again by giving more power to one guy in Washington, DC. You make America great again by recovering a Constitutional republic where Washington is populated by people who are servant leaders, who want to return power to the people and to the communities. Because what’s great in America is the Rotary Club. It’s small businesses. It’s churches, it’s schools, it’s fire departments, and it’s little leagues across this country. What makes America great is not some guy in Washington who says, ‘If I had more power, I could fix it all unilaterally.’ That’s not the American tradition.”
Sorry, kids, Sasse didn’t punctuate his answer with any emojis or hashtags or memes of cartoon frogs. But it’s pretty good anyway.
I’m a little bit curious about how Chuck responded to that. I hope he reminded Sasse that it’s one guy or gal in Washington who can fix all our problems. But mostly I don’t care, because he’s Chuck Todd.
Thanks, Ben. There may not be many of us who still care about such things, but you gotta start somewhere.
Sasse 2020: Make America a Constitutional Republic Again
P.S. Apparently this was months ago? Well, I only just saw it. Like I said, it’s MSNBC.
