Liam deClive-Lowe

Despite our polarized politics, there are some great examples of bipartisanship afoot — R’s and D’s working together on behalf of the American people 🇺🇸 One such example is the rail safety bill led by @SenVancePress and @SenSherrodBrown Read more in my @washingtonpost LTE 👇

Y'all make fun of Florida, but it's the only place with direct flights to the Moon.

SCOOP: The Trump administration has lifted its ban on issuing permits to wind farms related to bird protections — while also beginning enforcement actions against operators, @jaeporeon reports. Read the full story: heatmap.news/politics/eagle…

Already flip flopping

I try to use my time traveling between Indiana and Washington for reading. Here are ten books I greatly enjoyed in 2025: - Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by @FareedZakaria — Zakaria, a respected journalist and thinker, examines why some societies have successfully adapted to dramatic technological and social change while others have faltered. Helpful for understanding today’s turbulence, and how progress might be sustained.
 - Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by @IanWToll — A detailed account of the political resolve, strategic vision, and institutional pushback behind the creation of the U.S. Navy. Toll reminds us that maritime strength is hard-won but has been essential to American sovereignty from the very beginning.
 - Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose — Ambrose chronicles how President Jefferson’s vision and Lewis’s leadership translated ambition into action. From logistical planning to physical hardships to geopolitical consequences, this is an account of American initiative, exploration, and national purpose.
 - The Neptune Factor: Alfred Thayer Mahan and the Concept of Sea Power by Nicholas Lambert — A timely reassessment of Alfred Thayer Mahan, the Navy’s first great strategist. Lambert underscores Mahan’s insight that maritime power rests not only on fleets, but on commerce, industry, and economic decision-making. Important lessons as we debate shipbuilding and industrial capacity today.
 - King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild — History can inspire, but it must also warn. Hochschild exposes the brutality and exploitation at the heart of King Leopold’s Congo, reminding readers how unchecked greed and power can corrode human dignity and why moral clarity matters in global affairs.
 - A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by @nytegan — Set in 1920s Indiana, this gripping account traces the KKK’s alarming rise into mainstream political power, and its sudden collapse. It is a reminder that democratic institutions require vigilance, and that courage and integrity can prevail over entrenched hatred and corruption.
 - Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II by @ArthurLHerman — Herman tells the story of industrial leaders like William Knudsen and Henry Kaiser, who mobilized American manufacturing to defeat fascism. The book offers enduring lessons about public-private partnership, industrial readiness, and national unity.
 - New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West by @SangerNYT — A veteran New York Times reporter examines the false sense of finality that followed the Cold War and how a new era of great-power competition emerged.
 - Nuclear War: A Scenario by @AnnieJacobsen — Jacobsen offers a rigorously researched hypothetical to illustrate how quickly nuclear escalation could unfold under real-world constraints: limited time, imperfect information, and human fallibility. The book is a sobering reminder that deterrence is fragile and the stakes could not be higher.
 - All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren — Often called the definitive American political novel, this classic traces the rise and fall of Willie Stark, a populist reformer undone by corruption and ambition. It is a cautionary tale about power, character, and the moral demands of public service.

Political polarization has become a top concern, passing immigration, inflation & crime, says a new poll. But Americans also say they want cooperation across party lines. What can be done? @liam_dcl & @ConstitutionMel explain, Jan 12. Get tickets now: commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-01…

@BenSasse Devastated to hear this. I have been inspired by you for a long time, and more so now. I loved your book, which served as a guidepost for me at a time when I needed it most. May we all bring even half this amount of courage and heart to the trials we each face in our own lives.

Friends- This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die. Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do. I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all. Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints. There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come. Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son. A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears. Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet. Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective: “When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.” I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape. But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9). With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices, Ben — and the Sasses

No way I could beat those two guys!

From Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) interview with CNN: "I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. It's very bad for our country. It's been something I've thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I'm only responsible for myself and my own words and actions, and I'm committed -- and I've been working on this a lot lately -- to put down the knives in politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another"

My son Justin has sworn into the U.S. Army as an 11B infantryman! I couldn't be prouder of him. Hooah! 🇺🇸

Karine Jean Pierre is truly end-stage liberal identity politics, where literally every question can be answered by reference to "lived experience," all politics boils down to what identity boxes you check, and stunningly narcissistic acts are excused as "self-care".

So, here's to a weekend of zero political violence May God continue to bless this great nation with many more 🙏 It is the only way forward

We, as a country, communicated our strongly-held views and passionate disagreements, without *anyone* resorting to violence It's a beautiful thing — and it's how we continue to honor Charlie, and Melissa Hortman, and others who have been the vicitms of political violence

Putting aside whether you agree with the No Kings protests or not It's worth recognizing the fact that there were functionally zero instances of political violence *anywhere* in the country on the day of the protests — on either side

I appreciate the kind words of support from President Trump! Proud to be mentioned at such an important event. Thank you for working together to get my HALT Fentanyl Act across the finish line. Together, we will make America FENTANYL-FREE!

News: Jared Golden announces he is running for re-election to the House

@calebwatney I know the data is legit when I see a graphic in IFP purple

PEPFAR is the epitome of soft power. It is a Republican initiative, it is pro-life, pro-America and the most popular U.S. program in Africa. There’s even a waiver acknowledging this, yet I’m told that drugs are still being withheld at clinics in Africa. This must be reversed immediately!!