Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse to speak Thursday on political divisiveness in America
Ben Sasse is speaking at the MU in his lecture titled “If Not Us, Who? Human Dignity in the 21st Century.”
October 23, 2018
Ben Sasse, a Republican senator from Nebraska, will be speaking Thursday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Sasse is a first-term senator and has become a rising star in the conservative movement.
Sasse will continue an ongoing discussion in America on the political divide in his lecture titled. “If Not Us, Who? Human Dignity in the 21st Century.”
Sasse will discuss healing the increasing divide among American citizens.
This was recently demonstrated during the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. During a process where many senators brought up political points, he used his speaking time to warn the Senate that the confirmation process was being mishandled.
“We have a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the Supreme Court in American life now,” Sasse said.
Sasse called out both parties for politicizing the process too much and said that if they were as concerned as they appeared to be, they should all recognize that the role of the court is not to be a political battleground.
A recent focus of his is the increasing incivility of political discussion in the country. His new book, “Them: Why We Hate Each Other — and How to Heal,” discusses the polarization that has been occurring in the U.S. In it, Sasse encourages Americans to see how prosperous the country is and that both sides should not see one another as evil.
“America wants you to be happy, but more urgently, America needs you to love your neighbor and connect with your community,” Sasse said.
Sasse was born in Plainview, Nebraska and attended Harvard and later Yale, where he earned a Ph.D. in American History. He went on to work in the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security before running for Senate in 2014.
The 2014 elections saw a landslide victory of historic magnitude. All 93 counties voted in favor of Sasse, helping him win with the second largest margin for a new senator in Nebraska history.
His campaign was built on several core tenants of conservatism: limited government, adherence to the Constitution and civility in political discourse. He has lived up to these principles in many conservative’s eyes, causing him to become a popular figure nationwide.
