Former Senator Ben Sasse, who is being treated for stage four pancreatic cancer, answered audience questions at a CBS News Things That Matter town hall about his illness, health care policy, faith, family and what he thinks citizens should do to improve the country. Highlights from six questions he took:
1) Experimental treatments, access, and Right to Try
Sasse said he favors more medical experimentation and fewer blanket restrictions. He described strong side effects from a drug that has nevertheless helped him and argued that patients and their physicians should have greater freedom to weigh risks instead of facing one-size-fits-all FDA barriers. He urged loosening federal bottlenecks to expand clinical trials and allow more people to try promising therapies, while acknowledging the work of FDA staff. His core point: wider, more decentralized experimentation can speed progress in deadly illnesses such as pancreatic cancer.
2) Caring for people without family or resources
On the collapse of local supports and what happens to people with no family, Sasse said he supports a safety net but is wary of a uniform federal solution. He prefers empowering states through block grants so governors and legislatures can pilot different models, from community-based care to programs that help people age in place. He argued state-level experimentation will produce a variety of responses better tailored to needs such as Alzheimer care, instead of one standard approach imposed from Washington.
3) Faith and the role of religion in politics
Sasse described a distinction between the civic sphere and explicit theology. He said government should preserve order, protect life and liberty, and secure freedom of religion, but not use the state to enforce theological claims. He rejected the idea of reading geopolitical events as divine commands and stressed that public servants should aim to reduce violence and maximize liberty, human rights and open commerce without asserting an eternal political mandate.
4) How facing pain and loss has changed his prayer life
Since his diagnosis, Sasse said he has become more emotionally open and aware of his dependence. He becomes tearful more often and feels humbled by physical fragility. Quoting the example of pastor Tim Keller, who also died of pancreatic cancer, he said the illness has deepened his prayers and sharpened his sense of human finitude. That humility, he said, has been a kind of gift, increasing gratitude for relationships and ordinary joys.
5) How he hopes his children will remember him
Stripping away offices and accomplishments, Sasse said he wants to be remembered chiefly for relational roles: husband, father, son, friend, neighbor. He emphasized being present and faithful in everyday relationships over career titles. He described himself as someone who recognizes brokenness, practices repentance, and places most value on personal bonds rather than public accolades.
6) What citizens can do to set America on a better course
Sasse warned that powerful new information tools will put vast data and analysis in everyone’s pocket, but said information alone cannot substitute for the dense social structures that help people learn and flourish. He urged rebuilding thick community networks such as extended family, workplaces, houses of worship and neighborhood connections where people actually gather and support one another. Technology expands access to information, he argued, but increases the need for local institutions and relationships that help people process and use that information for a healthy civic life.
Across his answers Sasse returned to similar themes: increase experimentation in science and governance, decentralize decision making, and revive local ties. He framed government as an important but limited instrument whose main job is to preserve order and liberty, while encouraging Americans to renew the small-scale communities that sustain daily life.