{"id":15862,"date":"2026-04-28T15:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15862"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:07:18","slug":"ex-sen-ben-sasse-congress-is-not-wrestling-with-big-or-important-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15862","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Sen. Ben Sasse: \u2018Congress is not wrestling with big or important questions\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (R) in a new interview published Monday said Congress was not \u201cwrestling\u201d with big or important questions, hammering both the Republican and Democratic parties for not grappling with more forward-looking issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNeither of these parties really have very big or good ideas about 2030 or 2050, at a national security level, at a future of work level, at an institution-building level,\u201d he told CBS News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Congress is not wrestling with big or important questions right now,\u201d Sasse added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former lawmaker suggested current lawmakers be more open to publicly adjusting their stance on legislative issues after learning more about a topic or hearing a fresh perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t encourage a lot of humility,\u201d Sasse said of the culture in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t encourage someone saying, \u2018You know what, I used to believe this, but I listened to somebody else, and I realized I was wrong, and I\u2019ve learned this new thing.\u2019 There\u2019s no audience for that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Sasse said the country\u2019s democracy will survive by welcoming new perspectives on old issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Senate needs to be less like Instagram. The Senate needs to be more deliberative. And that means less smack-down nonsense,\u201d he told CBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA republic actually requires people who do deliberative, long-form discourse, learning, humility and community building. We\u2019re not doing that right now,\u201d Sasse added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the areas where he said lawmakers should take a deeper dive is artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to impact society in a positive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the digital revolution does is it accelerates almost everything about the human experience,\u201d Sasse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything that can be reduced to a series of steps, which is most economic activity, is going to be routinized and become really, really cheap, really fast, and really ubiquitous,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sasse, who has been open about his terminal prostate cancer, has been reckoning with mortality and urged his former colleagues to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all mortal. We\u2019re all on the clock. We\u2019re all going to be pushing up daisies eventually, and I think wisdom requires us to grapple with our death and our finitude early,\u201d he told CBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former Nebraska senator urged lawmakers to focus more on community building and interpersonal relationships, not their professional titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got a lot of people who serve in government who really do think the highest and greatest thing you can ever do is have the title senator or congressman. Bulls\u2014. The best thing you can do is be called dad or mom, lover, neighbor, friend,\u201d Sasse said during an interview with CBS\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In separate comments to the outlet, Sasse shared his \u201cparting wish\u201d is for elected officials and citizens across the country to grapple with their mortality and the contributions they can make to future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we need to have more deliberation about our mortality and our finitude to therefore get back to wisdom about what living a life of gratitude looks like,\u201d Sasse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like a lot more dinner tables to turn off the devices, put them out of the room, pour a big glass of wine, break bread together, and wrestle with some really grand questions about what you\u2019re building for your family and your next generation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (R) in a new interview published Monday said Congress was not \u201cwrestling\u201d with big or important questions, hammering both the Republican and Democratic parties for not grappling with more forward-looking issues. \u201cNeither of these parties really have very big or good ideas about 2030 or 2050, at a national security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-15862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-Sen. 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Ben Sasse (R) in a new interview published Monday said Congress was not \u201cwrestling\u201d with big or important questions, hammering both the Republican and Democratic parties for not grappling with more forward-looking issues. \u201cNeither of these parties really have very big or good ideas about 2030 or 2050, at a national security […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15862\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T07:07:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T07:07:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/63.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"327\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"LISTEN WORLD\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15862#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/63.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/63.png\",\"width\":450,\"height\":327},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15862#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15862\",\"name\":\"Ex-Sen. 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