Posted on 04/24/2015 5:33:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Elizabeth Warren versus Ted Cruz? Not likely. Only the most extraordinary circumstances could produce this improbable contest for the presidency in 2016.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was the first to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination, but his hardcore ideology and abrasive manner make him unlikely to be chosen by calmer heads closer to the center of the party.
And despite persistent efforts by left-wing Democrats to change her mind, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is emphatic in her refusal to run for the office.
Still, consideration of the remote possibility that these two could face off for the presidency brings this question into sharp relief: What kind of country are we?
Filmmaker Michael Moore has an opinion. In a chapter entitled “A Liberal Paradise,” from his book “Dude, Where’s My Country?” he argues that the United States is a “land of liberal-lefty peacenik tree-huggers.”
Of course, Moore is easy to dismiss. His politics reside at the far-left, semi-socialist end of the Democratic spectrum, and his style is often brash and abrasive. So consider the source.
But Moore builds his case on polls taken by organizations such as Harris, Gallup, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Harvard and even Fox News.
Moore argues that on a wide variety of issues — from abortion to gun control to the environment to health care — Americans lean much more to the left than to the right.
Moore’s book was published in 2003, so his statistics are a decade out of date, but many of the attitudes they reflect are probably durable, and on some issues, they may now trend even further to the left.
For example, Moore cites polls from Gallup, the Los Angeles Times, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Newsweek, among others, to describe an America in which 68 percent of its citizens favor laws against discrimination against homosexual employees, and half say that gay and lesbian couples should be entitled to the same benefits that opposite-sex married couples receive.
Last month, the Washington Post reported that 59 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, and half believe that the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection gives gays and lesbians the right to marry. We’re trending left on this issue.
In fact, I suspect that many Americans are currently as concerned about other issues ordinarily associated with the left — marijuana legalization and the environment, for example — as they were in 2003, if not more so.
But statistics take us only so far. Although the word “liberal” has been demonized by the right, on many issues Americans’ attitudes tend to the political left, even if they often conflict with what Americans say and how they vote.
Big government versus small government? Small government, of course. But we like the security, stability and benefits that result from the collective energy of a government that provides services beyond the capacity of private enterprise. We like having police officers and firefighters, good schools and the most powerful military in the world. We like good highways, and we like being able to drink water out of any tap in the U.S. without having to worry about contracting cholera.
High taxes versus low? Low, of course. But even if we don’t always realize it (“Keep your government hands off of my Medicare!”), we also like the social safety net — as porous as it is — that makes us different from many other countries, where the poor and the ill are left to suffer and die on their own.
Generalizing a little, conservatism hopes to restore a fondly remembered past; liberalism imagines that public policy can be wielded to improve the future. Maybe the best we can do lies somewhere in between.
Which may explain why we’ll probably be treated to a conventional Clinton-versus-Bush battle that, no matter how it turns out, won’t provide much chance for real change.
Too bad. The improbable Warren-versus-Cruz contest would tell us a lot more about who we really are.
Many in early 1968 thought it would be RFK v. Rockefeller. I’m still thinking Jebbie will be HRC’s coronated “challenger”, as I don’t think Republican primary voters are capable of picking anyone good, based on their long-term track record.
What you don’t see is that the “fix” is in on debates with Cruz. His opponent will be declared the winner “on points” no matter what, and millions of Americans won’t know the difference.
“..... hardcore ideology and abrasive manner...”
This POS homosexual loving lib should meet me. LOL
The Vermonters have never been the same since Coolidge died.
Yes, the purpose of Warren would be make one long nostalgically for Hubert Humphrey.
PS - My tagline is a Cruz quote.
no contest.
Cruz can deliver a speech without any notes. He has a brilliant mind, but more importantly he knows how to properly give God glory and thanks.
I would make a debate between these two a Pay Per View event,
“Anyone who goes into a debate with Ted Cruz, goes unarmed.”
Debates mean nothing to 42 percent of voters who only care about free stuff.
Your failure to take The Injun Gal as a serious Presidential Candidate is a slap to the wounded knee of Native Americans. I has spoke to my Tribal Council and both of you are banned from our casinos for life. And don’t try and get tickets from scalpers.
Nope; not Massachusetts Mike; it would be Minnesota.
It’s a good thing I am not from Vermont.
And Coolidge was the governor of Mass.
“..... hardcore ideology and abrasive manner...”
_____________________________________________________________
The main stream media is endeavoring to do to Ted Cruz what they did to Sarah Palin; label him as stupid and extreme in an attempt to render him un-electable. Will they succeed? I’d say there is a 50/50 chance, but, Ted will not be blind-sided by them like Sarah was. We’re wise to them now.
Do you suppose that “. . . his hardcore ideology and abrasive manner. . . .” are what the American people like about Senator Cruz?
We Conservatives have been wandering in the LIEberal desert long enough!
We are glad that a Real Conservative with a “. . . hardcore ideology and abrasive manner. . . .” has stepped up to the plate to snatch America back FRom the abyss of LIEberal tyranny!
BRING IT ON!
I can't wait to see Cruz in a debate! I do think it would be hysterical to see him back good ol' Hillary! into a corner.
He can back her into a corner easily, but showing this to the American people will be harder. They won’t easily understand: they are victims of dumbed-down “education”.
Unless the MSM helps her run into the Roundhouse.
I’m not sure they are unarmed, but they are undoubtedly outgunned.
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