Senators Writing Books

Big Red Car here in soggy Austin By God Texas, y’all. It’s still raining.

So, the Big Red Car has a bone to pick with Senators, Senators who spend all their time in Washington, District of Columbia writing books.

[Talking to you, Senator Ben Sasse.]

We send Senators to DC as part of the legislative branch to write laws, not books. But, some — talking to you, Bennie boy — just go up there and write books.

Let’s break it down, shall we?

Senators

Senators are apportioned two per state. They serve for six years and they provide the deliberative balance to the House of Representatives’ impulsiveness as designed by the Founding Fathers.

The reps come and go every two years. In this fashion, the Senate is steady while the House is quick.

Senators are sent to write laws, not books.

Senator Ben Sasse Books

Senator Ben Sasse has written two books since he’s been a Senator. The first is a 320 page work which discusses political philosophy using the theme of parenting as an analogy. It was published by St. Martin’s Griffin press in May 2017.

The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis--and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance by [Sasse, Ben]

The second is a 288 page tome published this month by St. Martin’s press which suggests the hard edge of political life and life, in general, is not rooted in genuine philosophical differences, but in an overwhelming sense of loneliness and an aversion to tribal toxicity. It suggests the solution is more stable families and enduring friendships without explaining how to achieve that end.

Them: Why We Hate Each Other--and How to Heal by [Sasse, Ben]

Sasse, a Nebraskan, is a smart guy — smart enough to know that writing books as a Senator will make him a lot of money. Can you imagine any lobbyists buy his books? Haha, yes you can, dear reader.

He is graduate of Harvard, Oxford, and Yale who served as a college President. He fancies himself a conservative, but a recent DNA test shows him as 91.23% #NeverTrump, 2.2% Indian and 0.00004% conservative. He has promised to write a book about it.

What’s your beef, Big Red Car?

My beef, dear reader, is that Ben Sasse was sent by the good people of Nebraska to write laws, not books.

My beef is that he is being paid $174,000 per year, provided an office, and provided a staff to write laws. He is, instead, using those resources to write books, commercially focused books that will make him a lot of money. Money which he is not giving back to Nebraska or the Federal government.

During his tenure — he was elected in 2014 — he has introduced three bills, none of which have become law.

His side hustle has become his main thing – part time Senator, full time writer.

But, he’s found time to write two highly successful books. [Financially successful. The thinking is second rate in the evaluation of the Big Red Car. No car chases.]

Related image

Here is Ben Sasse taking a break from book writing to spend some quality time with Chuck Schumer and Tom Cotton. Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, introduced 15 laws in the same time period in which Sasse introduced 3. They both were sent by their respective states to legislate and were both paid $174,000.

Related image

Senator Ben Sasse displaying his unique view of politics and writing. You can’t make this stuff up.

So, there you have it, dear reader. Fewer books, more laws. Do the job you have been paid to do, please.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car and nobody is paying me to write. Be good to convertibles in the rainy weather.