Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who this week is leaving the U.S. Senate to become president of the University of Florida, gave valedictory remarks on Tuesday that reminded some of us why we’re angry that he’s leaving.

It must be granted that large universities desperately need wise and competent leadership, and that Sasse can do a lot of good at the flagship college of the nation’s fastest-growing state. Still, there’s a case to be made that his exit from the Senate is an abandonment of a unique and salutary opportunity. He is relinquishing status as one of only 100 people nationwide with a hands-on chance to fix those things in today’s sociopolitical order that his speech identified as being broken. Having signed up for another six-year term of manning the national Senate ramparts, he absconds after two years to plant his flag in a largely regional redoubt.