Oh boy! I have so many thoughts that I took notes on the things I wanted to write about for this one. Let’s do this:
I read this book because I know a little bit about Senator Sasse. I knew he has a Ph.D in history from Yale and was a university president all before becoming a senator at age 41. I knew he was a Republican who was savvy on social media, specifically Twitter. He first gained notoriety, to me at least, by penning this letter that stated he could not support Donald Trump for president, even if he were the Republican nominee. This made me curious about Sen. Sasse in general. I saw this book, published in 2017, and it was available so I thought I’d give it a try. It fits my own personal Read Harder-style wherein I try to read things from people I would not normally read. There are many reasons for that like lack of exposure and differing opinions and beliefs. In this case of this book, I wanted to ensure that I avoided my own political echo chamber.
First thoughts, Sen. Sasse is ten years older than I yet we come from two different generations. He is Gen-X and I am a millennial. He seems to believe that fact alone means that I am part of what he considers the problem facing our country today. This occurs in the first five or so pages and I almost quit the book right then and there. In fact, the only reason I didn’t rage quit is two-fold: first, I posted about reading this book and breaking out of my comfort zone on social media so it seemed that I would be a super hypocrite if I did give up so fast. Second, I can’t remember the last time I started a book and made a conscious decision not to finish. I’m the reason people write articles letting us know that it is ok to give up on a book, I can’t do it and it sucks. I digress. I kept reading and once Sasse started talking about the things we can do to help our children become better adults, I found some common ground. Before we get into that though, I have more and specific complaints.
I cannot believe that the Sasse has a Ph.D in history from Yale. I just can’t. He made the following claim at one point in his boo, paraphrased of course, millennials consumed more toys than children of the late 1930s, proving they are needier and consumer driven. WTF!?! Let’s stop and think for half a minute, I don’t need all 30 seconds but I’ll use them. What was happening in the late 30s? Oh, just the worst economic collapse in our nations history. It was so bad that we named it the Great Depression. Maybe Ben, the reason children had fewer toys then was because their parents couldn’t find work. I’d think someone from Nebraska, a state that was affected by the Dust Bowl, see here, would know that, let alone someone WITH A PHD IN HISTORY. Furthermore, and I’m just spitballing here, maybe there are roughly 2.5x as many people living in America today than during the Depression. But what would I know, I only have a BA in History from a public, not a Ph.D from an Ivy. Then again, I am a millennial and so I’m just looking for excuses to not work harder like old Ben.
Ok, I could rant a rave about Millenials and how older generations blames us for the problems they caused all day. Whoops, I did it again. The problems that WE caused. Moving on for real now.
Once I got through the disparaging generalization about my generation, I mean the wholesome fully-baked truths, I found that I don’t disagree with Sen. Sasse on everything. He spent several chapters talking about encouraging his children to read and I am all on board with that. My wife and I also agree that our kids will hold jobs when they are old enough, and I insist that they be in the service industry so that my children learn about people outside of family and friends. I am a different, and I think better, person for the jobs I’ve held that forced me outside of my own tribe. I mean tribe in the sense of a collective society, of shared beliefs and not a specified group of Native Americans. I wish I didn’t have to clarify that but here we are.
I’d also like to add that Sen. Sasse talks about midwestern values a great deal and I have thoughts here too. My mom is from Wisconsin and I felt a connection to many of the values the senator referenced. I’d go so far as to say that I hope to pass them on to my children. What I would never suggest is that those are the best ways to raise children or instill virtue in others. It is a very insular view that can only see what he/she/they have done and assume it is correct because it works for that individual. That belief is patronizing at best and Benny boy is not the best. It is a wildly arrogant position and belief system and it rubs me wrong.
Sen Sasse spent a lot of the book making clear that he was avoiding politics in the book but that was very odd given that the stances he championed were a checklist for conservative ideals. I’m not passing any judgement on the validity of what he said, or invalidity, but don’t claim to be impartial and then espouse the beliefs of only one side. I should also add that he and his wife are both educators and I do not know enough about some of the education-related topics to have my own fully-formed opinion. This book has encouraged me to look more into public school education and how it really works. I’m also motivated to this as my oldest is almost four and will soon be very affected by it.
Finally, this book was written with one clear goal in mind, IMHO. Ben Sasse wants to be president. He has stated otherwise but it’s crap, he’s running. This book reads like a rallying cry to old, white voters who want to vote for a young person who shares their beliefs. He wrote another book last year that I will almost certainly not read but based on the title, Them: Why We Hate Each Other – and How to Heal, it is both very clear that he intends to run for president and that the second books is probably filled with the same drivel as this one.
My recommendation, skip unless you like reading books from politicians who want to be president and proselytize while claiming non-partisanship. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have an avocado toast waiting for me.
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