No, as a pinnacle of conscience. It's apparent that our differences go waaaaayyyy back.
How about Sir Thomas Moore? Is he any more appealing to you than St. Martin Luther? Vote your conscience!
Cruz may be a ‘citizen, however, he is not a natural born citizen and his record as a US Senator prove his agenda is not in the best interests of America.
http://www.goodfellowllc.com/free-stock-market-content/tpp-living-blog
16. FAST TRACK SHENANIGANS: REP. PAUL RYAN AND SEN. TED CRUZ
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) were instrumental in the passage of TPA. While there were many of the usual suspects going along with the Presidents Fast Track plan, including most key Democrats in Congress, and former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the Fast Track bill could not have passed without Rep. Ryans and Sen. Cruzs support and encouragement.
Rep. Ryan was the lead Congressman in promoting TPA. Sen. Cruz provided lots of support, and co-penned an editorial with Rep. Ryan in April 2015, encouraging Congress to pass the TPA bill.
Putting Congress in Charge on Trade The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2015
On June 23rd, mere hours before the Senate Fast Track vote, Sen. Cruz announced his opposition to the Fast Track bill, on the premise that Sen. Mitch McConnell had lied to him.
Ted Cruz: Obamatrade Enmeshed in Corrupt, Backroom Dealings Breitbart, 06-23-15
I am appalled that anybody would believe that Sen. Cruz did not know what was in the TPP, that he did not somehow understand that TPA gives the President carte blanche on his anti-American agenda, and that Sen. Cruz was lied to by Senator McConnell.
Senator Ted Cruz is a brilliant man. There is absolutely no way that he was naive about TPA, TPP, the Presidents agenda, or any of the motives of the other key players on this issue. It is my belief that Sen. Cruz realized that pressure was mounting from voters, against the TPP, and that he would not be elected President if he supported the TPP. So he had to make a quick turnaround on his stance on Fast Track a turnaround which carefully took place far too late to kill the Fast Track vote.
Normally, Im a forgiving person, but I draw the line with Sen. Cruz. To reiterate:
1. Sen. Cruz co-authored a pro-Fast Track op-ed with Rep. Paul Ryan, in April 2015.
2. In May 2015, Cruz voted against an amendment to the Trade Deal that would require congress to be consulted if China (or other nations) were to join after the fact. The Conservative Treehouse, 11-30-15
Senate Amendment 1251 To require the approval of Congress before additional countries may join the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
3. Sen. Cruz had the power to kill the Fast Track bill, by influencing colleagues including any of the 36 Congresspeople from Texas in the months leading up to the Fast Track vote. Instead, he waited until the last possible moment to announce his opposition to Fast Track. The bill only passed the House by one vote. To me, his last minute change of heart over Fast Track seemed like a politically expedient decision, made in light of the Tea Partys growing outrage over TPA & TPP.
4. In the spring of 2015, I contacted four of Cruz Senate and campaign offices, to talk to key people about why he should be voting no on Fast Track. None of them returned my calls. After nine visits to Washington D.C. in 2015, to fight Fast Track, I found it highly unusual not to be able to speak with a Senators staffers. My takeaway was that his people were told to stonewall the Fast Track opponents.
5. Sen. Cruz and his supporters have portrayed his original pro-Fast Track position as naivete; and that he was fooled by his colleagues. I say baloney! Sen. Cruz is one of the smartest, most knowledgeable elected officials in D.C.
Theres absolutely no way that Sen. Cruz did not understand that Fast Track (a) freely gives a significantly increased amount of power to President Obama and the pro-TPP contingent, and (b) that the TPP gives away U.S. sovereignty.
6. Sen. Cruz did not take an anti-TPP stance until the Nov. 10th Presidential debate, once it became clear that almost every serious contender in the debate had also spoken out against the TPP. Why did it take him so long to speak out against the TPP?
7. Club for Growth, a pro-trade organization, was Cruz biggest campaign contributor in the years 2011-2014, donating $705,657 more than twice the amount of the next biggest contributor. This alarms me. Why would Club for Growth bet so heavily on a candidate who opposes the TPP? (Source: OpenSecrets.org)
8. Sen. Cruz wife, Heidi Cruz, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, has lots of career experience with pro-trade factions.
Mrs. Cruz was a special (temporary) member on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); and on the CFRs task force for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), for which she completed a task force report on Building a North American Global Community. Mrs. Cruz co-author on that report was Robert A. Pastor, who has been called the father of the North American Union.
Mrs. Cruz was special assistant to Robert B. Zoellick, whose resume reads like an encyclopedia of the New World Order.
Mrs. Cruz worked as special assistant to Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, former U.S. Trade Representative, and former President of the World Bank. Mr. Zoellick has unparalleled experience in ushering trade agreements into existence, including the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and others with Vietnam and with Jordan. He was also instrumental in the last implementation of Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority in 2002. His resume reads like an encyclopedia of New World Order organizations, including stints on the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Project for the New American Century, the World Trade Organization; and he is a proponent of Climate Change issues.
Ponder this analogy: a person whos anti-abortion would never take a job as special assistant to the Director of Planned Parenthood. I know that everybody wants to pooh-pooh Mrs. Cruz intimate involvement in the globalist agenda, but she lived and breathed that agenda in her career! She was not an oblivious clerical worker with a 100 I.Q. She was fully involved in planning and promoting global governance. Then she went home at night and talked about it with her husband. How does a staunch Constitutionalist marry a staunch globalist? The answer is, he doesnt. He marries somebody whos relatively like-minded. When you meet your future spouse at work, and you work together for many years, you are usually aligned in your political stance.
I am left to believe that Sen. Cruz fully supports the TPP, and what we witnessed was his political maneuvering, as he hid his position so as to solidify his chance to become the next President of the United States.