By John Fuller
In recent days during the government shutdown and continuing-resolution fiasco, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) became a household name for his 21-hour speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Like James Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Cruz attempted to persuade the Senate, Congress and the nation of the necessity of doing what was best for the country. And predictably, the chattering classes and political classes attempted to ridicule, condemn and marginalize him because he was doing the job he was elected to do: protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Cruz was urging Congress to defund Obamacare. That is a legitimate enumerated power of Congress … i.e. control of the purse. Only statists and the blissfully ignorant deny that Obamacare is an imminent “train wreck” (as our own Sen. Max Baucus said). Cruz knows that the way one changes Washington is to change the views of the country. That is what he is attempting to do. Symptomatic of the abuses of Obamacare is the fact that Obama and the Democrats have granted waivers from the individual mandate to themselves and their staffers, but won’t grant waivers to middle-class Americans! Cruz is demonstrating leadership. Texans understand symbolic efforts. |
By Joe Carbonari
Opportunist “leaders” like Ted Cruz take most of the flack, but those of us who have remained passively silent deserve more of the blame. Many see him for the charlatan that he is, but because nearly all of us have friends and acquaintances who are Tea Party supporters we have been much too slow in challenging the misunderstandings, misrepresentations and misguided leadership that he employs. In doing so, we have done our friends a disservice. And yes, there certainly are zealots on the left as well, but unless you truly believe that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Federal Reserve System are all parts of an international communist conspiracy, you’ll likely agree that we’ve kept our extreme left from doing anywhere near the same degree of damage that the Tea Party leadership seems headed for. The problem with the Tea Party movement lies not in the motivations of its followers, but rather in the quality of its leadership. They have taken well-intentioned, concerned citizens and opportunistically promoted themselves while misguiding their followers. Their positions are neither well-informed, nor fully thought through. Their tactics of obstruction and destruction are short-sighted and counterproductive. Our country, and the world, cannot afford much more. It’s time to stand up and say “Enough!” |