That Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Senate confirmation hearings devolved into mostly partisan squabbles should surprise no one. One notable exception to their general tenor was the performance of Neb. Sen. Ben Sasse. Instead of engaging in political gamesmanship, Sasse tried a different strategy: giving Americans an eighth-grade-civics refresher course.
A former college president and the author of two books that explore America’s crumbling civic order, Sasse is perhaps the senator best qualified to speak about the growing divisions within the American mind.
He noted that Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia held strongly opposing views on the Constitution but were confirmed by Senate votes of 96-3 and 98-0, respectively – a marked contrast with the partisan gladiatorial contests that we see today. What’s changed since then? The political class has forgotten the crucial distinction between civics and politics, he says. They’ve “allowed politics to swallow everything” in our public life.
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