This has been the first Presidential primary season that I didn’t know who I was supporting before Iowa. Usually, it’s pretty clear cut and since I almost never support the “Establishment” candidate, I almost never get my wish. C’est la vie. This year, though, life has given me an opportunity to support a winner and that winner is Ted Cruz.
For full disclosure, I’ve been a Cruz supporter for a couple of months. Technically, he was my second choice behind Marco Rubio, but nearly a month ago they switched positions in my hierarchy. Before I go into the biggest reason that I have chosen to be all in for Cruz, I’m going to go through the obvious reasons to do so even if none of them are my reason. Consider it a good exercise in realizing what should be obvious but that’s apparently not clear to enough people thus far.
1. Cruz can Win the Nomination and Rubio Cannot
With every fresh and embarrassing loss, it’s becoming more clear that Rubio’s only path to the nomination is through a brokered convention. Even that is becoming less likely for him with rumors of Mitt Romney being drafted by the Establishment. As of the time of this writing, Rubio has won Minnesota and Puerto Rico and is polling behind Donald Trump in his own home state. That doesn’t bode well for any path to the nomination, brokered convention or not.
2. #NeverTrump
This should be the most obvious reason. Cruz is closest to Trump in delegates and has demonstrated an ability to beat the polls. Trump was ahead in the polls going into every state that Cruz has won other than Texas and technically Maine (only because they didn’t really have a reliable recent poll). Donald Trump is not a good leader (acting tough is not a quality of good leadership and is often a sign that he’s not a real leader), he’s not a good candidate (his shenanigans have prevailed in gathering his sheep so far but the same tactics will not be tolerated in the general election), and he would make a terrible President (to the point that some Republicans are hoping that he’d lose to Hillary Clinton in the general election rather than imposing his disastrous policy proposals).
3. The One True Conservative
While I’ve never been much of an Establishment guy, I’m also not a rock-ribbed conservative that believes in chopping taxes to the bone and removing every government program that requires money to operate. Rubio appealed because he seemed like a pragmatic conservative, though he came close to losing me altogether with the Gang of Eight debacle. Now that Rubio is professing to be against amnesty, I’ve called that a mulligan and lined up with him again based upon his voting record. Cruz seems to be a little too conservative for my tastes, at least on the surface. That’s a perfect segue to the one reason I now support him…
Ted Cruz is Real
While the previous three reasons are common among those of us converting to Cruz, they didn’t really work for me. As I’ve said, I’ve been backing losers all the way back to Pat Buchanan, so the fact that he can win the nomination is not really a factor. While I don’t want Trump, I’m still of the belief that he can implode before the convention, so #2 isn’t my reason, either. I already debunked #3, the reason that most of his supporters adore him, as a non-reason for me.
At the end of the day, the reason I support Ted Cruz for President is because he’s demonstrated an authenticity that runs at a stark contrast to the narrative created by the Trump campaign (and, unfortunately, perpetuated by the Rubio campaign). Cruz didn’t lie about Ben Carson in Iowa. First, it wasn’t a lie. It was a CNN report. Second, it wasn’t him. He was at caucus speaking. To say that he somehow had something to do with the release through their app is like saying that John Kasich commits domestic violence because one of his staffers was arrested for it back in November.
Despite the lies coming from the other campaigns, Ted Cruz says what he means and means what he says. He embodies the principled person that we’ve always wanted in a President but that we’ve only actually seen three times in the last century (Reagan, Kennedy, Coolidge). He, like many running for Senate in 2012, promised to go after Obamacare. He followed through with everything that he had even when every single other Senator abandoned the effort. He stood alone. That type of courage, the political suicide he committed for the sake of doing what was right for the people, is the one reason that I’ve decided to vote for him. My only qualm is that I didn’t do enough research to come to that decision from the beginning.
Don’t listen to the lies from Donald Trump and his supporters. He’s the best salesman that the political world has ever seen and he’s old the narrative that Ted Cruz, the most honest man to run for President in decades, is somehow considered to be a liar. It’s a tactic that anyone could see through if they took a moment to look at the facts.
Image: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com
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