James Kerian: The Case For Ted Cruz

It has been recently reported that the the North Dakota Republican convention this coming weekend will feature a more intense than usual contest for who will serve as North Dakota’s delegates to the Republican National Convention. It is expected that there will be a slate of would-be national convention delegates publicly supporting Donald Trump and a slate of would-be national convention delegates publicly supporting Ted Cruz.

I do not know if anyone is organizing a slate of would-be delegates for John Kasich who is still (for some reason) nominally in the race.  Below are the reasons that I will be supporting Cruz this weekend.

Trust

If you go strictly by the impression you get on television then Cruz may not be your guy.  He’s not the most telegenic.  The image he projects through the television camera is neither the flashiest, nor the strongest, nor even the most seemingly genuine.  That is the unavoidable result of the presence in the race of an experienced showman and actor and I say that in no way disparagingly.  It is to Donald Trump’s credit that he possesses and uses his ability with the cameras.

But if you dig a little deeper, beyond mere appearance, into what each candidate has done, what they have stood for and what they have fought for then it quickly becomes clear that Ted Cruz has earned the trust of the conservative movement and grassroots Republicans.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]He has stood for those of us who don’t have K-street lobbyists and against corruption and cronyism. He has stood for the individual’s right of conscience and against Democrat efforts to gut the first amendment. He has fought for secure borders (rather than just giving speeches about it). He has stood for limited government and against the concentration of power in Washington DC.[/mks_pullquote]

He has stood for those of us who don’t have K-street lobbyists and against corruption and cronyism.  He has stood for the individual’s right of conscience and against Democrat efforts to gut the first amendment.  He has fought for secure borders (rather than just giving speeches about it).  He has stood for limited government and against the concentration of power in Washington DC.  He has done all of this fighting not only President Obama and the Democrats but also any member of his own party (including leadership) when they have threatened these principles.

Electability

All three of the remaining candidates talk exclusively about the polls where they are doing well.  I have spoken with supporters of all three candidates who have claimed that it is obvious that only their guy can defeat Hillary Clinton in November.  But the fact of the matter is there are only two candidates for whom winning the nomination through the primaries is even mathematically possible.

If you look at more than one poll then it becomes quite obvious that of those two candidates Ted Cruz is the only one (at least according to polling data) who might prevail in the general election.

It is true, as mentioned above, that Cruz’s chief rival is a very gifted performer in front of the cameras and that is, undeniably, a great political asset.  But when the entire electorate is polled (instead of just Republican primary voters) Donald Trump also has (as shown through multiple polls) the highest unfavorable rating in the history of political polling. That’s generally not a great starting point for winning an election.

Putting The American People First

One of the silly episodes of this political season was the conniption over Donald Trump asking supporters at his rallies to raise their hands and pledge to vote for him.  We were assured that the raising of hands is something that Nazis did and so this clearly showed that Trump supporters are like Nazis.  It should go without saying that encouraging your supporters to show up and vote is rather common at political rallies.  And, of course, it’s equally obvious that no one had similar concerns when President Obama was asking supporters to raise their hands as part of his class-warfare gig.

It is to the credit of all of the other Republican candidates that none of them participated in this bizarre criticism but Ted Cruz, to his particular credit, zeroed in on what really was wrong with the situation:

“I got to say, to me I think that’s exactly backwards. This is a job interview. We are here pledging our support to you, not the other way around.”

This is the attitude that really sets Cruz apart both from our current President and from his remaining rivals for the GOP nomination.  If you are looking to elect someone to rule over you then Ted Cruz is not your guy.  But if you are looking for someone to faithfully serve the American people by upholding and defending the Constitution then Ted Cruz is the candidate you should be supporting.