Ben Sasse says Republicans, Democrats lack long-term vision for U.S.

Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, on Sunday said neither major political party has put forth a realistic long-term vision for the country and are content for the moment to engage in shouting matches and finger pointing.

“I think I’ve been saying for three years that I conceive of myself as an independent conservative who caucuses with the Republicans,” Mr. Sasse said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But frankly, neither of these parties have a long-term vision for the future of the country.”

Mr. Sasse, first elected in 2014, had been asked about a recent statement he posted on Twitter in which he said he “regularly” considers changing his party registration from Republican to unaffiliated.

“There’s massive stuff happening in America, and these parties are really pretty content to do 24-hour news cycle screaming at each other,” he said. “The main thing that the Democrats are for is being anti-Republican and anti-Trump, and the main thing Republicans are for is being anti-Democrat and anti-CNN.”

“Neither of these things are really worth getting out of bed in the morning for - I think we should be talking about where the country’s going to be in 10 years,” he said. “I’ve been saying for a long time these parties need to reform and have a future-focused vision and we’re not there yet.”