Cruz Control?…He is hurting the cause he stands for

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Thomas Sowell:

Freshman Senator Ted Cruz says many things that need to be said and says them weell. Moreover, some of these things are what many, if not most, Americans believe wholeheartedly. Yet we need to remember that the same was true of another freshman Senator, just a relatively few years ago, who parlayed his ability to say things that resonated with the voters into two terms in the White House. Who would disagree that if you want your doctor, you should be able to keep your doctor? Who would disagree with the idea of a more transparent administration in Washington, or a President of the United States being a uniter instead of a divider?

There are many things like this that freshman Senator Barack Obama said that the overwhelming majority of Americans — whether liberal or conservative — would agree with. The only problem is that what he has actually done as President has repeatedly turned out to be the direct opposite of what he said as a candidate.

Senator Ted Cruz has not yet reached the point where he can make policy, rather than just make political trouble. But there are already disquieting signs that he is looking out for Ted Cruz — even if that sets back the causes he claims to be serving.

Those causes are not being served when Senator Cruz undermines the election chances of the only political party that has any chance of undoing the disasters that Barack Obama has already inflicted on the nation — and forestalling new disasters that are visible on the horizon.

Obamacare is not just an issue about money or even an issue about something as important as medical care. Obamacare represents a quantum leap in the power of the federal government over the private lives of individual Americans.

Chief Justice Roberts’ decision declaring ObamaCare constitutional essentially repeals the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which declares that powers not given to the federal government belong to the states “or to the people.”

That central support of personal freedom has now been removed. The rest of the structure may not last very long, now that the Obama administration is busy quietly dismantling other bulwarks against the unbridled power of the government in general, and the unbridled power of the presidency in particular.

The Federal Communications Commission, for example, is already floating the idea of placing observers in newspaper editorial offices to “study” how decisions are made there. Nothing in the Constitution grants the FCC this dangerous power, nor is there any legislation authorizing any such activity.

But what the federal government can do is not dependent on what the Constitution authorizes it to do or what Congressional legislation gives them the power to do.

The basic, brutal reality is that the federal government can do whatever it wants to do, if nobody stops them. The Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision shows that we cannot depend on them to protect our freedom. Nor will Congress, as long as the Democrats control the Senate.

The most charitable interpretation of Ted Cruz and his supporters is that they are willing to see the Republican Party weakened in the short run, in hopes that they will be able to take it over in the long run, and set it on a different path as a more purified conservative party.

Like many political ideas, this one is not new. It represents a political strategy that was tried long ago — and failed long ago.

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He’s got to pick battle that can be won

@DrJohn:

He’s got to pick battle that can be won

You mean like how George Washington picked only those battles that could be won? Oh, wait, Washington lost a lot of battles, that were picked for him, before he started winning and turned the tide of the war.

You can always pick your friends. You can’t always pick your battles.

I have great respect for Dr. Sowell, but on this issue, he is solidly wrong. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, they all know the political risks, and are willing to take it. As Dr. Sowell said; John Roberts basically repealed, without Congress, the 10th Amendment. What are Cruz, Lee and Paul supposed to do about that? Wait until there is sufficient news reporting on the destruction of the three-branch system until they say something?

In the arena of economics, I would say that Ted Cruz should pay respect to Dr. Sowell’s expertise. In the arena of the U.S. Constitution, and the machinations of the U.S. Senate, Dr. Sowell should defer to Senator Cruz. And I would refer Dr. Sowell to the history of the Whigs, a party that thought it could stand even though it had little support. It did not. And a few forward thinking men gave us the Republican Party.

“Those causes are not being served when Senator Cruz undermines the election chances of the only political party that has any chance of undoing the disasters that Barack Obama has already inflicted on the nation — and forestalling new disasters that are visible on the horizon.

Obamacare is not just an issue about money or even an issue about something as important as medical care. Obamacare represents a quantum leap in the power of the federal government over the private lives of individual Americans.”

What difference does it make if we elect a Democrat or a Republican, if there isn’t a hair lines difference between them? If they are both big, leviathan government proponents, who will continue taking us down that slippery slope to the final destruction of the Constitution? If it were not for Ted Cruz’s actions, like his recent forcing of the Senate to hold a majority vote on cloture for the debt ceiling, would anyone have been interested enough to report that Senator McCain told the clerk to hold the roll call so that he and Mitch McConnell could work to flip six Republican votes from nay to yea?

We have been here before. Our history is filled with brave men that refused to go along with the status quo. They too, were ridiculed and chastised for not going along with the herd, but go along they did not, and in the end they proved right. The promise that the Republicans will once again make things right if only they just win the next election, and the next, and the next, rings hollow. The establishment GOP have abdicated their core values to line their own campaign coffers. John McCain, while not an exception, is simply the voice and the face of the party that has decided to go along to get along.

We tried it Dr. Sowell’s way. We nominated Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney. And conservatives lost. If we are to lose again, and our nation in the process, at least Ted Cruz will be able to say that he stood, and fought, dying on his feet which is better than living on his knees.