My cousin was one of Ben Sasse’s best friends in college. (My cousin is also a wealthy right-wing Christian who knows how to talk.) Summer of 2016 at family reunion we got to talking politics and I was giving him my opinion of the Trump movement and problems with the hard right. He assured me that not all Republicans were dumb ideologues: witness the Best Man at his wedding, Ben Sasse. So I asked about Ben. Ben turns out to be pretty extreme actually. But my Harvard-educated cousin from suburban Chicago explained that it was beliefs based on the inherent strength of America; that states have the right to make their laws; and that if you didn’t want to live under the laws of Kansas you could move to California. I went to get a beer. No point in remaining thirsty in that intellectual desert.