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Nebraska Politics

What Happens When a Senator Thinks He Can’t Lose?

Submitted by:

Alan Meyer
Cedar Bluffs, NE

Our Senator, Ben Sasse, has called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment.  This is the amendment to the United States Constitution that allows us to vote for our U.S. Senators directly instead of them being appointed by the state legislature. 

Imagine what this means.  Only political cronies well known by the members of the state legislature would ever be appointed.  This would be a return to the back room deals, political wrangling and corruption that the 17th amendment did away with when it came to selecting our senators, the most powerful elected officials we send to Washington.  The U.S. Senate would no longer be directly answerable to the people of the states they are supposed to represent.  Instead they would be answerable to the powerful lobbies that have access to those back room deal makers.  That is not you or me.
Senator Sasse also wants to abolish cameras from Senate hearings.  That means regular people, like you or me, will not be able to know what is really happening.  Again, less accountability to the people he is supposed to represent.  When the powerful have no accountability they often reach for more power and even less scrutiny.  Is this what Ben Sasse is doing?

I have to wonder if Senator Sasse has proposed these terrible regressive ideas right now because he feels he has no possibility of being defeated in his re-election bid and therefore will not suffer any consequences.  This year such a repellent candidate for U.S. Senate has won the Democratic primary that even the state party has disavowed him and is supporting Preston Love as a write-in.  I now feel that Senator Sasse is every bit as repellent as the person who won the Democratic primary. 

I hate to make this sound like I am writing this just in support of Preston Love.  I am not.  I am writing this mostly in support of our hard-won democracy for which we all need to stay vigilant in order to preserve.  So, I do ask everyone to write in Preston Love for U.S. Senate.  Is he only not as repellent as the alternatives?  No!  Preston is a very honorable and hard-working man, a former Cornhusker who starred on Bob Devaney’s first teams, and a man with a long record of community service.  He is definitely a great choice for the job, unlike his opponents.

At the very least, since Ben Sasse wants to take away your right to vote for him, give him what he wants and refuse to vote for him on November 3rd.

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