Cruz, Huckabee, Jindal preach conservative principles (Freedom 2015)

Passionately professing that the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage must be overturned and laying out their conservative credentials, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal pulpiteered to over 1,700 conservative Christians in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday for a two-day National Religious Liberties Conference.

Before hearing from the presidential contenders, evangelical families collected name tags, perused a table filled with books like "What does the Bible Say About That: A Biblical Worldview Curriculum for Children" and connected with other like-minded conservatives. In the dimly lit hall, Kevin Sawnson, executive director of Generations, which was hosting the event, set the tone in describing same-sex marriage as a "significant cosmic revolution against almighty God."

"Some of our leaders are encouraging civil disobedience. Some of the most significant religious leaders in this country are looking you straight in the eye, and they are telling you, you disobey the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of the supreme law-giver of all this universe, and that is God. Well, friends, this is a wake-up call from the church," Swanson said. "I believe God is telling you are going to be persecuted. Either you are going stand with me or you are coming down with the rest of them."

When Cruz took the stage, he didn't hesitate in diving into how religion and government should be connected.

"Any president that doesn't start the day on his knees isn't fit to be commander in chief," Cruz passionately said.

Jindal pushed forth a similar message -- ardently citing the need for a religious revival in the U.S. He started off his 10 minutes on stage saying that the left is trying to take away First Amendment religious liberty rights. For this reason, Jindal told the room that 2016 will be "the most important election of our lifetime" and moved on to tout his own conservative record.

Huckabee, also diving head on into the social issues, said that same-sex marriage "is not law." He then moved quickly onto abortion, citing one prime question that has yet to be resolved: "Is the unborn child a person? Or just a blob of tissue?" From there, he pressed Republicans to force the left to defend themselves on what he called the right to kill a baby.

But for many in attendance, it was not so much the candidates that they were there to see -- it was, rather, the conference's doctrine that they were there to support.

Asked if a few young men sporting red Cruz stickers were there to see the senator, Johan Gervais, a 25-year-old from Texas, said, "Well, we are here for the religious liberty conference." He had driven to the conference with seven of his evangelical friends and happily noted that Cruz is their senator.

But Cruz was a favorite in the room. "We like him," said Graham Featherston, one of Gervais' fellow roadtrippers from Austin. Featherston is only 15 but said that if he could vote he would vote for Cruz. The group drove over 14 hours to attend the conference and knew a group of four girls who had also made the trek.

Generations, the conference's host, is based in Colorado Springs and decided to host the conference in Iowa because this is its first political convention. It seemed "pivotal" to be in the state that first voices its opinion in the primary process, said one person who works at Generations.

That said, out-of-towners were not an anomaly. Of the 1,700 attendees, only 387 were from Iowa.

Etsu Van Slooten, from Wisconsin, was there with her five children and her husband. Born in Japan, she went to college in the U.S. to study social work and immediately started working at Head Start, the federal program that promotes early childhood education for low-income families. But she soon realized that she needed to change her professions and devote herself more ardently to religion.

"I felt like I was helping people go to hell," Van Slooten said. "I wanted to work for something that makes a difference for a human being. So I went back to mission work for something that would give light."

Pushing her stroller, Van Slooten said that she, like many others at the conference, was a homeschooler.

Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz's father, took to the stage later in the evening for about an hour and made a pitch to the homeschooling families in the room, telling them that the government does not want parents helping kids with their homework because it brainwashes them.

"He is someone who I have admired my entire life because he knows what he believes and he stands up and tells the truth," Cruz said. "What a blessing to be a child of an immigrant who fled oppression. It makes you realize just how precious and fragile liberty is."

Huckabee said religious liberty should be applied to all religious perspectives.

"We should protect the rights of an atheist, to believe that there is no God, as much as we should protect the rights that I have to believe that Jesus Christ is God," Huckabee told reporters.

Cruz and his father pressed home the need for voting momentum and action, urging people to get out and vote.

"If another 10 million evangelical Christians vote in 2016 and simply vote our values, we won't be up at 3 in the morning wondering what happened in Ohio and Florida," Cruz said. "They'll call the election at 8:35 p.m. because Christians would have turned this country around."

His father also urgently pressed evangelicals to get to the polls in order to fight back against "Christians being singled out."

"God didn't put Obama in power. We did! By sitting on our rear ends," the elder Cruz said. "Make sure everyone understands that voting is our civic responsibility."

Before leaving the stage, after almost an hourlong speech, he made the pitch that his son was the best choice. He described him as a leader, a fighter and the "man of the hour."

"Rafael for vice president!" an audience member shrieked as he walked off the stage.

Trump supported TARP, auto bailout and Porkulus bill.

Trump's Record on Free-market Issue: (from the Conservative Review)

Trump has a terrible record on free market issues. The only bright spot is the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing, but this glimmer is countermanded by his repeated support for bailing out Wall Street and the auto industry, and increased stimulus spending. Of particular concern is Trump's belief that the government can use eminent domain powers to seize private property in the name of private economic development. This comes as no surprise, given his support for using eminent domain to profit his own company.

Trump supported the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of London, allowing public authorities to seize private land for economic development by private investors; Trump said, “I happen to agree with [the decision] 100 percent.” (National Review) This is no surprise given Trump’s attempt to use eminent domain in his own line of work. (Institute for Justice)

Trump supported President Obama’s 2009 stimulus, saying: “The word stimulus is probably not used in its fullest…you know, certain of the things that were given weren't really stimulus. They were pork, as we call it, or they were gifts to certain people. But overall, I think he's [President Obama] doing very well. You do need stimulus and you do have to keep the banks alive.” (CNN)

Trump supported TARP, saying, "You had to do something to shore up the banks, because ... you would have had a run on every bank." (CNN)

Trump supported the 2008 auto bailout, saying, “I think the government should stand behind them 100 percent. You cannot lose the auto companies. They’re great. They make wonderful products.” He also said that the federal government could “easily save the companies.” (Daily Caller)

Trump criticized the Federal Reserve’s intervention in the debt market, saying quantitative easing creates “phony numbers” that mislead the marketplace and “will not ultimately benefit the economy. The dollar will go down in value and inflation will start rearing its ugly head.” (CNBC)

Donald Trump has a history of using eminent domain to complete business deals. Multiple times Trump has supported the use of government agencies to take possession of homes and businesses for use in his private business plans. Eminent domain seizures are reserved only for public use of property rather than abuse by the government taking property from one individual and giving to another. (Washington Post)

Donald Trump has sought and received crony capitalist tax breaks for his commercial properties in New York. These tax breaks, and even an abatement, force the property taxes of other property owners to rise at the expense of the connected. Special treatment for one business or industry over another with the tax code conflicts with free market principles. (National Review)

In 2009, Trump supported Barack Obama's call for limits on the pay of executives. (CNN)

Presidential Candidates Comparison (Carson vs. Cruz vs. Rubio vs. Trump)

Please click on the pictures at the top of the columns for more details on the ratings of the candidates.


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Trump's Record on Civil-liberty Issue: (from the Conservative Review)

"Trump has an inconsistent record when it comes to civil liberties. He supported the NSA mass surveillance program but did not weigh in on the recently passed reforms. Overall, he has avoided commenting on religious freedom, but says he would be an advocate for Christians. Trump supports an individual’s right to make unlimited campaign contributions, but advocates for an end to soft money in politics. Most concerning is Trump’s belief that the government can use eminent domain powers to seize private property for economic benefit for others."

Trump supports the NSA’s metadata collection program, saying, “I support legislation which allows the NSA to hold the bulk metadata. For oversight, I propose that a court, which is available any time on any day, is created to issue individual rulings on when this metadata can be accessed.” This position was identical to the NSA’s mass surveillance program before being reformed by the USA Freedom Act. (Newsweek)

Trump has avoided commenting on religious freedom since Indiana passed its Religious Freedom and Restoration Act into law. Instead, he has said that he will be the “greatest representative of the Christians they've had in a long time” if elected president. (Christian Today) (Breitbart)

Trump believes political soft money should be banned, while individuals should be allowed to make unlimited contributions. "If I were drawing a political cartoon to represent the situation, it would include a very large guy with a huge bag of money. On that bag would be written one word: soft. Soft money is the bane of the current system and we need to get rid of it." (The America We Deserve)

Trump supported the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, giving public authorities the right to seize private land for economic development by private investors. Trump said, “I happen to agree with [the decision] 100 percent.” (National Review)

Trump highlighted his support for prosecuting "hate crimes" against homosexuals in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. “Hate Crime” is a term used to extend special protections for a specific classes and in essence elevates the importance of these classes above others. For example, murder of homosexual or heterosexual should be viewed equally under the law and punished equally. Creating special classes is a liberal tactic used to divide and segment society.(Google Books)

Trump said that Kim Davis should not have been jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses. He also said that she should allow her deputy clerks to do so, but also said that 30 miles away you can get a license so people should do that. He added, "The decision's been made, and that is the law of the land." (CNN)

Much like his stance on eminent domain, Donald Trump has shown a troubling tendency to want to use the power of government to stifle political speech. When the conservative Club for Growth released an advertisement regarding Trump's changing positions on taxation, Trump responded with a legal letter calling for them to cease and desist the advertisements. A chilling move towards the silencing of political speech. (Politico)

Donald Trump attacked SuperPACs (political action committees) in the third Republican debate. By suggesting they should be outlawed he came out against the First Amendment protection of speech, and echoed progressive talking points. (Time)

It's not unresolved. It's self-evident that the child is a person. Everybody knows it. If they tell you otherwise, they're lying.

Mike is one step short of the whole truth of the matter, sadly.

And Cruz wants to "overturn" the Supreme Court? What does that mean? Only laws can be overturned. And court opinions are not laws.

Both court opinions and laws that violate the laws of nature and nature's God or the Constitution do not need to be overturned. They need to be considered null and void by the rest of those who have sworn the sacred oath of office.

"All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void."

-- John Marshall, Marbury vs. Madison

"Every law consistent with the Constitution will have been made in pursuance of the powers granted by it. Every usurpation or law repugnant to it cannot have been made in pursuance of its powers. The latter will be nugatory and void."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"...the laws of Congress are restricted to a certain sphere, and when they depart from this sphere, they are no longer supreme or binding. In the same manner the states have certain independent power, in which their laws are supreme."

-- Alexander Hamilton

"This Constitution, as to the powers therein granted, is constantly to be the supreme law of the land ... It is not the supreme law in the exercise of a power not granted."

-- William Davie

"It will not, I presume, have escaped observation that it expressly confines the supremacy to laws made pursuant to the Constitution."

-- Alexander Hamilton

"There is no position which depends on clearer principles than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid."

-- Alexander Hamilton

"Clearly, a federal law which is contrary to the Constitution is no law at all; it is null, void, invalid. And a Supreme Court decision, which is not a 'law,' has no 'supremacy' - even if it is faithfully interpreting the Constitution. So it is the height of absurdity to claim that a Supreme Court decision that manifestly violates the Constitution is the 'supreme law of the land.'"

-- William Jasper

"I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government...At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal."

-- Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address

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