By Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing - In the British comic Review in the 1960s, Beyond the Fringe, a commanding officer in the Royal Air Force sought to persuade a pilot to go on a kamikaze mission. “Smedley,” he said, “we need someone at this moment to make a [Grand] Futile Gesture.”... Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska has made his career with Grand Futile Gestures... he has shown little interest in doing the grinding work of a legislator in working out bills in committee and persuading his colleagues.