Cruz nomination would set up a clear choice

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier ^ | May 17, 2015 | Former Rep. Dave Nagle (D-Iowa)

[2ndDivisionVet]

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is running for president. His candidacy should not be overlooked.

Many are not familiar with him, which is not surprising because for most of Iowa it is still very early in the caucus process. But the senator has attributes that may distinguish him from an unusually crowded field of GOP contenders.

First, he went to Harvard. No, I am not writing about Ted Kennedy, I am saying this fellow actually went to not just Harvard, but the Harvard Law School after doing his undergraduate work at Princeton University. He is well educated and very intelligent. For example, he served for a period of time as the solicitor general for the state of Texas, and you do not argue and win cases in front of the United States Supreme Court without being an extraordinarily competent attorney.

He is conservative, very conservative, but I don’t dislike that aspect of him. He is a true reflection of his well-formed political ideology. Those who run for office as liberal or conservative can be divided into two classes: individuals who have thought and carefully arrived at their political opinions and those I would call “lip sync” wonders, whose views are obtained by election opportunity, saying what they think needs to be said and then voting to retain their public position. Ted Cruz is not the latter; he certainly is the former.

Further, he is an excellent debater, having honed his skills from grade school on up through college and then into the practice of law.

For a conservative, his views are fairly standard. He would, among other things, repeal Obamacare, abolish the IRS, obviously cut government spending, strongly support Israel and is decidedly in favor of a strong military for the U.S. In addition, his father is Cuban, which may open a door for the Republican Party to crack into the Hispanic voting bloc.

Can he win the Republican nomination? I don’t know. It is a crowded field, particularly on the right. Cruz is focusing his early attention on tea party members, social conservatives and evangelicals. It’s noted that he has said the problem has been not enough evangelicals have been voting. It would be unrealistic to expect that he moves to court moderates, people he has described as “the mushy middle.”

According to the latest statistics, approximately 40 percent of Iowa Republicans are self-described conservatives, social, religious or libertarian. He will have a fight with Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and a host of others to emerge as their favorite and then will have to confront Jeb Bush in a less friendly atmosphere in New Hampshire, where independents can vote. But he is a new face, he is bright and Iowans have a history of taking the unexpected candidate and propelling that individual into the national spotlight.

But the one real reason I think a Cruz presidential campaign would be good for the country is this: A clear choice.

Most times, after the presidential nominating process is completed, a strange thing happens. The candidate that was the darling of the left or the favorite son of the right suddenly discovers he or she can’t remember what they said in January, it now being September and really they are in their heart simply a moderate, attempting to move the needle on the dial to 51 percent of the vote.

As a nation right now, we are badly divided. Neither party has a clear mandate for their policies. As a result, we don’t move too much one way or the other, but this in fact means we are not moving at all.

We are stuck, with congressional approval ratings at historic lows. Frustration exists with the Iowa Legislature’s inability to find a common ground on educational funding, among other issues. Strange as it may sound, legislative bodies do reflect public opinion and right now, the country is badly divided on the role and size of government, more so federal than state but really both.

Sometimes presidential elections can determine the country’s future. I think 1940 was one such election. Franklin D. Roosevelt had pushed through the reinstatement of the draft by one vote in the House of Representatives, and America commenced preparation for the coming war. Ronald Reagan turning the country to the right in 1980 is another example. But for this to happen, whether we go left or right, depends on the voting public being presented with a clear choice, and Ted Cruz on the Republican side clearly reflects this opportunity.

Now if the Democrats will do the same thing, we will have a real election and real choices, which is, after all, what a representative democracy is supposed to be about.

[SoConPubbie]

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[Unmarked Package]

If we see many more DemocRATS, or Liberal media, singing the praises of Ted Cruz, that will tell me that the DemocRATS/Liberals want Ted to be the GOP nominee because they think he is an extreme, right-wing whack-o and would be the Pubbie most easily defeated.

I get a very different impression from this particular editorial and author. I don't get the feeling he is trying to promote a Republican candidate that he believes can be easily defeated. My gut feeling is Dave Nagle recognizes leadership of the modern Democrat Party has become radicalized to an extreme beyond any resemblance to what it was in years past and the people they represented. I hear a silent scream in his writing warning more traditional, Reagan Democrats and the nation to pull back from the edge of the cliff and a plunge into socialism without coming right out and saying it.

[Din Maker]

Ref. your Post #42: I hope you are correct in your assessment.

[wardaddy]

I don’t agree with Cruz every utterance or decision

But he is my first pick no doubt of that

I sent money to his senate race

But he’s a long shot

It happens but he’s still a long shot once you get outside this forum

What sucks is we will have at least 7-10 deadbeats sucking up oxygen he will need but Jeb doesn’t

Jeb breaths helium. Huge cash and apparatus

Cruz also trails Rubio and Walker in that sphere

I wish he could peel off some of that big Texas cash that the Bushes and GOPe customarily get

Freepers love small donor aura but it’s the big money that buys the election lifeblood of airtime in the early primaries where media attention focused

It’s gonna be Jebs to lose till he does

And if at least some of the Pickens Simmons Koch etc cash switches recipient it could work like a bow thruster and change course of the nomination journey

There are really only two unflappable guys in

Cruz and Huckabee and Huckabee is soft on identity issues

So Cruz wins the unflappable award

Something I sure couldn’t do

I’m more the Preston Brooks school of debate unfortunately

[CyberAnt]

Exactly! Sorry I didn’t include “Constitutional”.

I just get irked when people call us a “Democracy”.

[ConservativeMind]

Folks, this just came up in the Washington Post, and the author does, in fact, show that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, among others, said the United States had a “Representative Democracy” form of government:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/13/is-the-united-states-of-america-a-republic-or-a-democracy/

Apparently, each of you like to set our Founding Fathers straight.

[CyberAnt]

Well, our flag salute is to a TA-DA - “the Republic for which it stands”.