People have been complaining about the next generation forever.
This perspective is a thinly vailed promotion of a “WASP” (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) world view.
In his quote below Sasse suggests we begin a “Augustinian Awareness.”
But growing up involves coming to recognize the distinction between who we still are today and who we seek to become. Our hope is that our young people will begin to own the Augustinian awareness that not everything we long or lust for is something we should really want.
I had no idea what Augustinian Awareness was, so I had to look it up. Here is what it is, “One of the most eminent spin doctors of the fourth century, Augustine bemoaned that he was merely a vendito verborum (a peddler of words). After he became a Christian he gave up what he perceived as arrogant rhetoric designed to impress, instead cultivating what he called sermo humilis (humble speech).2 The secular spin doctor became a Christian preacher.”
In other words, to raise great kids we need to be more Christian.
However, I want to point something out. Sasse is talking about the kids in Nebraska. I would guess Nebraska is mostly Christian and mostly conservative. Perhaps the problem isn’t, as Sen Ben Sasse says, a lack of Conservative Christian thinking. Perhaps the problem is too much Conservative Christian thinking. By this I mean, that Conservative Christians want to blame anyone but themselves for the problems of their kids.
This makes perfect sense to me. If you believe your world views are absolutely correct, but the outcomes are not good, then it has to be someone (Liberals) or something (Socialism) that is to blame.