Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse is leading the charge for an independent-conservative 2016 candidate. In a lengthy Facebook post published early Thursday morning, Sasse addressed those who are unhappy with the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, in other words, “the majority of Americans.”
The 44-year-old senator criticized both entrenched political parties that have left Americans with a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and noted that young people despise the two parties even more than the general electorate.
“Our problems are huge right now, but one of the most obvious is that we’ve not passed along the meaning of America to the next generation,” Sasse wrote. “If we don’t get them to re-engage — thinking about how we defend a free society in the face of global jihadis, or how we balance our budgets after baby boomers have dishonestly over-promised for decades, or how we protect First Amendment values in the face of the safe-space movement — then all will indeed have been lost. One of the bright spots with the rising generation, though, is that they really would like to rethink the often knee-jerk partisanship of their parents and grandparents. We should encourage this rethinking.”
Sasse encouraged Americans to draft “an adult” who would commit to serving one term in office, and would spend that time focused on solutions to three or four of the most important national problems.
However, the Nebraska Republican has indicated that he is not interested in the job himself.
In early March, the Draft Sasse PAC announced they would support an independent bid by the senator if Trump were to win the nomination — to which Sasse replied, “absolutely not; I’ve got three little kids and the only callings that I want — raising them and serving Nebraskans.”
