Posted on 02/15/2014 8:38:41 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
These days, it’s popular to claim that Senator Ted Cruz is only looking out for himself. And this is undoubtedly true. Much in the same way John McCain is only looking out for himself and Chuck Schumer is only looking out for himself, and every millionaire Senator looking to hold on to his or her seat in perpetuity is looking out for #1. Cruz just happens to be better at it.
Take the kerfuffle over the debt-ceiling vote. When Mitch McConnell met with Senate Republicans colleagues this week, he proposed that they allow a vote on the House debt limit bill without GOP objection, a tacit surrender that would allow passage with a simple 51-vote majority. The 55 Senate Democrats, who would rather see the government shut down than concede to compromise, would win and then save the GOP from the inevitable political blowback that accompanies capitulation. (Now, if only the Republicans deployed the same level of creativity in their battles as they do in their surrenders, victory would be theirs!)
Rather than allow this expedient maneuver to place, Cruz demanded the Senate reach a 60-vote threshold, forcing five Republicans to join Democrats in the hike. This, predictably, infuriated the GOP establishment. McCain accused Cruz of instigating “needless drama that helps to explain why Republicans remain a minority.”
Yeah, that’s why.
What’s Cruz’s sin here? That he forced the GOP to be transparent about its position — a position that seems pretty reasonable considering the political realities of the situation. According to Betsy Woodruff’s reporting, most Republicans had no interest in voting for an increase. It’s preposterous to claim, no matter how often the Tea Party does, that moderate GOPers are “no better” than liberals simply because they’re losing on this issue. But if the debt ceiling isn’t a hill worth dying on – and it certainly isn’t – leadership should have explained this explicitly rather than leading on the base. It was only back in January when McConnell told the faithful on national television that some of “the most significant legislation passed in the past 50 years has been in conjunction with the debt limit. I think for the president to ask for a clean debt ceiling when we have a debt this size of our economy is irresponsible.” What McConnell should have added then is: but there’s nothing we can do about it right now. We have to work on winning more seats, and then we can stop this endless cycle of irresponsible spending.
In a recent piece, National Review’s Charles Cooke defends the GOP establishment’s handling of this and other battles: “In my estimation, the only thing of which Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have been guilty in the past few years is to have worked tirelessly within political reality and to have reacted sensitively to the hands that they were dealt.” Overall, I agree. Moreover, the House doesn’t get enough credit for putting a hard stop to the Democrats’ overly ambitious progressive agenda. Obstructing bad legislation is as valuable, if not more valuable, than working to make terrible legislation marginally less terrible. The GOP House successfully brought balance to Washington after a hard left turn by Democrats.
But life’s not fair. McConnell and Boehner don’t lead, they manage. And they’re about to lose the party. For starters, any fresh conservative ideas in the Senate are coming from Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio (who’s on thin ice, I know). They, like Ted Cruz, and like Senator Barack Obama before him, understand the appeal of idealism over pragmatism to those out of power. Obama voted against what is the now-sacred debt ceiling hike because he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you’re going to surrender, at the very least don’t make it look easy. And don’t try to cover up the terms.
As much as some of us are fans of “dysfunction,” tactically speaking, playing defense forever is no strategy. Yes, the establishment works tirelessly within the political realities of the day. Cruz, it seems, is more interested in changing the reality of his situation. Forcing a 60-vote threshold on the debt ceiling wasn’t only about the debt ceiling (which Cruz surely understood would be hiked), and it wasn’t only about his presidential ambitions (which he surely has), but creating the type of problems for the GOP that will help bring a bunch of Matt Bevins into the Senate and solidify his position.
If they attain more power, Tea Party conservatives may accept that tactical victories can often have more impact than a hollow but self-gratifying stand. At some point, they may accept that one of most effective weapons in policymaking — one that the Left uses with great success — is incrementalism. Fair or not, though, the problem with today’s Republican Party is that the only incrementalism people see is incremental surrender. Like the completely unnecessary debt ceiling lose. And if the establishment doesn’t turn that perception around in a hurry, they won’t be the establishment for much longer.
How about that, eh? Someone that serves in elected office and actually stands up for his principles.
This is the Ted Cruz that I have come to know. He is rock solid.
You don’t need to take my word for it, though. Just pay attention to what he says and does. You will be pleased.
And Boehner, McConnell, and the rest of the boys & girls currently in power in the GOP are hooked like crack addicts on a powerful centralized federal government. They love spending our decendants' money in order to stay there, and to heck with that antiquated idea of constitutional limits. After all, one day they'll get back on top, and they can run DC better than the DemocRATs, don-cha-know...
And he has a safe base in Texas, this guy is going to drive the left and rinos crazy.
I'll take what I can get from Cruz but I am jaded. I stand by and ready to be disappointed eventually.
He’s a great man and I know just what you are saying.
I support him, 100%.
Go Ted!! Keep up the good work.
He reinforced the notion that obamacare was passed by democrats. He kept weasly GOPe fingerprints off of it.
The democrats own obamacare thanks to Ted Cruz.
I also understand where you are coming from. It’s very rare these days to find someone that actually places our Constitution, our Liberty and our Future above “the Party” or their own “personal” fiefdom.
Ted Cruz is a diamond in the coal bin.
” learned that teamwork builds strength, I view Cruz as a self serving individual, totally void of principle. “
Thank you for your service but I totally disagree with you. You don’t need a team when you are standing for your values...and..it seems you don’t allow for the fact the teamwork isn’t the ONLY way to build strength.
When half you ‘team’ is trying to lie to the people that put them in power, is it the soldier’s view to allow them to continue?
Sorry my FRiend.
On the other hand, via one single principled politician is the only likely way to find our way back out of this marxist morass.
You sound like a democrat troll.
Ha ha! I was thinking the same thing! Old Retired just follows Vruz threads to bash him.
Mitch?
Is that how we judge senators? We are legislated to death now. What would you have him legislate further? I just want them to tend to defense and leave everything else alone. It won't happen, but I will never fault anyone for not pushing through more legislation.
It’s definately a pointed article, I shall bookmark this one.
I think he is a democRAT troll here to stir up trouble for Cruz.
There are ulterior motives at play there, for sure.
As veterans, both you and Old Retired Army Guy follow a long line of military service people since General George Washington who have helped to protect our nation from outside military forces. Thank you for that!
With that said, however, when we read the early history of America, we cannot help but conclude that before General Washington's courage and military skill won the battles of the Revolutionary War, there was the courageous John Adams who, along with others, led the philosophical fight for independence.
Then, there was a young 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson, who may have lacked the oratorical skills of Adams, or the military leadership skills of Washington, but used his great intellect, his devotion the idea of Creator-endowed life, rights, liberty and laws to protect them, to become the chosen Author of our Declaration of Independence--a document which truly changed the world and formed the philosophical foundation for our Constitution's structuring of a limited government for a free people!
We honor all our military, but we must remember that what they are defending is a set of ideas--not just land or property--a set of ideas once well understood among citizens, but now under attack by a movement called "progressive."
America's citizens now are engaged in a "battle of ideas," and that battle, just as the one in 1776, requires what one might describe as thought soldiers on behalf of individual liberty. That might be an apt description of men like the Adamses of the 1770's, of Thomas Jefferson, of Thomas Paine, and the hundreds of others whose abilities to think, to write, and to use their oratory to inspire their fellow citizens!
Perhaps we might just allow such men the freedom to make their voices heard, to use the means of communication and media to call us to the battle before us, without seeing them as publicity hounds.
Let us measure their efforts by how closely their calls adhere to the ideas of our nation's Declaration of Independence and Constitution, not by their style; for if the ideas of liberty and our Constitution are allowed to be erased by the so-called "progressive" regressive ideas which now dominate our propaganda and policies, then our wonderful military may have nothing left to protect.
"These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety."
More power to Senator Cruz and any others who will dare to be bold and articulate when it comes to helping Americans rediscover the ideas by which America became the greatest beacon for liberty in the history of nations.
Ooops1!! In haste, my previous post omitted the citation for the quotation from President Thomas Jefferson’s “First Inaugural” Address. Sorry!!
Actually, I am just about to crawl in a hole and avoid all politics, because I think ALL politicians (including Cruz, Paul, etc.) are in it for their own self financial reward. Call me a Cynic, but after years of trying to believe in some of them and being disappointed time and time again, I suspect ALL of them. I firmly believe that ALL politicians are in it for themself and for the most part are outright liars (Kind of like our President). Check out the rewards they get from lobbyists and the pork they ALL (Including Cruz, Paul and Rubio) send back to thier States and Districts if you doubt me.
What the hell. Did I dart out and come back to find that DU had stolen FR’s web address?
While Ted Cruz is not my first choice for Prez I sure as heck am not going engage in pointed criticism of one of the few actual conservatives in Congress. Same goes for Mike Lee and Rand Paul.
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