Rand Paul endorsed Ted Cruz, but is he really our guy?

[pfarley]

I would encourage Cruz supporters to examine his "proven record" carefully.

For example, this showcase piece in his campaign literature:
"Successfully represented Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court in Medellin v. Texas, which upheld U.S. sovereignty and held that the World Court cannot bind the U.S. justice system and the President cannot order the state courts to obey the World Court."

It's not exactly as if this was a states' rights argument. Read around pg 44 of his oral arguments... he argued that the remedy against World Court intervention is to defer to a United Nations charter. http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/04-5928.pdf

Addison is the sincere liberty candidate in the race with the best odds, but he can use our support!

 

[Athan]

...I really want to vote for Addison however. Cruz is my second choice though. He will have my vote if he needs it later.

 

[wealeat]

Ted Cruz is an ardent supporter of liberty. He has called the CFR a "pit of vipers" and will co-sponsor Audit the Fed.

Glenn Addison may be good on some issues, but he won't be able to even scratch the surface in votes.

Really at this point, it is either support Ted Cruz or welcome your new Senator David Dewhurst, Rubber Stamped Establishment Republican.

 

[eduardo89]

yeah, i'm pretty sure Addison is better than Cruz but Cruz has a much better chance of winning.

This. I'd rather a guy we can agree with 80% of the time win (like Demint) than the guy we agree 95% of the time losing and us getting a guy we agree 20% of the time with.

 

[kylejack]

Still annoyed he doesn't have an Issues page on his website.

 

[wealeat]

The record page shows where he stands on the issues. It just shows how he actually fought for those issues, rather than just saying you support them.

 

[wealeat]

This. I'd rather a guy we can agree with 80% of the time win (like Demint) than the guy we agree 95% of the time losing and us getting a guy we agree 20% of the time with.

This needs to start becoming more prevalent in the liberty movement. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Especially when the perfect has no shot whatsoever.

 

[kylejack]

The record page shows where he stands on the issues. It just shows how he actually fought for those issues, rather than just saying you support them.

Doing one's job is not the same thing as supporting a political position.

 

[wealeat]

Eh, I definitely get a good understanding of his views from the page. He is against the NDAA, against SOPA, and against the TSA. And he has a chance to win. Seems like a no brainer.

 

[Paul Fan]

This needs to start becoming more prevalent in the liberty movement. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Especially when the perfect has no shot whatsoever.

On the other hand, I'd rather have one Rand Paul than five Trey Graysons. In my opinion, only a candidate who has endorsed Ron Paul for President deserves support this year. Any 80%'ers might ultimately get my vote, but they certainly won't get my money or my volunteer time.

 

[BrittanySligar]

Last poll I saw had addison at like 2%

 

[wealeat]

On the other hand, I'd rather have one Rand Paul than five Trey Graysons.

This is exactly my point. If you don't support the Rand Paul's, you'll get tons of Trey Grayson's. Support guys that support most of your beliefs that can win.

 

[The Free Hornet]

http://www.tedcruz.org/

Check out his page. An anti-SOPA page before it continues to his site

Where does he speak against the War on Drugs? Federal or otherwise...

That is my litmus test.

I saw nothing of interest on the debt, deficit spending, or ending overseas wars. He does like to defend monuments to military aggression:

- Successfully represented over 3 million veterans before the U.S. Supreme Court in Salazar v. Buono, defending the constitutionality of the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial, which was erected in 1934 to honor WWI veterans. Along with co-counsel Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Institute, Cruz represented as amici The American Legion, The Veterans of Foreign Wars, The Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the American Ex-Prisoners of War. In April 2010, the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision in favor of the veterans.

- Championed veterans in the Wall Street Journal, explaining the vital issues at stake over preserving the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial, and formally petitioned President Obama on behalf of 3 million veterans to restore the monument after it was destroyed.

Juxtapose these next two items:

- Authored a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of 11 states in FAIR v. Rumsfeld successfully defending the constitutionality of the federal Solomon Amendment, which requires universities receiving federal funds to grant U.S. military recruiters equal access to campuses, notwithstanding the universities’ opposition to the military’s policies concerning sexual orientation;

-Authored a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of 12 states in Bunting v. Mellen, urging the Supreme Court to hear the case and reverse a decision of the Fourth Circuit striking down the daily suppertime prayer for cadets at Virginia Military Institute.

So if you accept Federal funds, you have to grant recruiters equal access. On the other hand, you can actually be a public military institute and he is OK with mandating our soldiers, at taxpayer expense, respect his stupid beliefs:

For nearly three generations, students at VMI, based in Lexington, Ky., have been required to stand at attention after marching together into the mess hall. Cadets must stand, hands at their sides, while a "cadet chaplain," a student picked by the chaplain's office, recites a prayer that invokes God, without any mention of Jesus. VMI students are not required to bow their heads or actually recite the prayer.

http://web1.nusd.k12.az.us/schools/nhs/gthomson.class/articles/first.amend/ban.pryers.vmi.html

Guy seems like a worthless POS.

 

[The Free Hornet]

His page about "Preserving Religious Freedom" is all about preserving the government's right to practice Christianity at taxpayer expense. He is all about turning the courts that judge atheists into churches.

Preserving Religious Freedom

- Under the leadership of Attorney General Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz repeatedly defended the right to free speech and [government] religious expression, including in a landmark decision protecting the Texas Ten Commandments monument. That U.S. Supreme Court victory set a vitally important precedent for the right to display similar monuments across the nation. In addition, Cruz led the way on several cases that preserved the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and allows students to observe a moment of silence in schools. While Solicitor General, Texas had an unprecedented record defending religious freedom:

- Successfully defended the constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument, winning in a 5-4 landmark decision before the U.S. Supreme Court, setting an important national precedent for the right to display similar monuments;

- Authored a U.S. Supreme Court brief for all fifty States successfully defending the Pledge of Allegiance and preserving the words “under God”;

- Successfully defended the Texas schools’ moment of silence law in federal district court;

- Successfully defended the Texas Pledge of Allegiance in federal district court, preserving the words “under God”;

- Authored a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief for several states in support of Joshua Davey in Locke v. Davey, supporting Joshua’s constitutional right not to be excluded from state scholarship funds simply because he chose to study theology from a devotional perspective;

- Argued before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Staley v. Harris County, defending the constitutionality of a Houston courthouse monument that contained a Bible donated by the founder of the Star of Hope mission;

- Authored an amicus brief on behalf of six states in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America, defending the Boy Scouts and urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit to reverse a district court ruling barring them from leasing a public park.

This culture warrior won't upset the apple cart on any big issues. It takes a big man to stop a small gay boy from camping.


Added: Where is the consistency in a private university having to accept recruiters because they accept federal funds but a private organization must be allowed to discriminate even though they use public lands?

He is using federal funds as the camels nose in the tent. How far it goes before you have a whole stinking camel in the tent depends on what the culture warrior sniffs. I should add that I am sympathetic to all sides on these issues. I just don't see Cruz as having the wisdom to see that we need government out of the equation.

 

[Paul Fan]

This is exactly my point. If you don't support the Rand Paul's, you'll get tons of Trey Grayson's. Support guys that support most of your beliefs that can win.

No. If they don't endorse Ron Paul, then they don't get my support. Cruz looks to me like a neocon in tea-party clothing. I'd rather support true liberty candidates then help install someone who will be tough to get rid of later because he is 'partly' right. My time and money are limited so I'll only support the true believers at this point.

No One But Paul, and those who endorse him.

 

[wealeat]

Well, it is going to be an extremely long road to liberty if you don't start supporting people that can win. If you don't support Cruz, who lectured on Bastiat and Mises in High School then you are ensuring a former CIA, Anti-TSA bill killer, moderate in David Dewhurst is the next Senator from Texas.

 

[kylejack]

I didn't think we played the lesser of two evils game here.

 

[wealeat]

I don't believe he is evil, though. He is endorsed by Rand and that frankly by it's self is good enough for me. If you don't want to support him you are free not to, but I think it is a mistake.

 

[Cowlesy]

A political friend told me to support Cruz, and said that he's a lot more on my page (this person knows me fairly well) than what the establishment would like. He's at least worth checking out.

 

[kylejack]

I don't believe he is evil, though. He is endorsed by Rand and that frankly by it's self is good enough for me. If you don't want to support him you are free not to, but I think it is a mistake.

He's something of an unknown and for some reason refuses to put up an Issues page. The Rand endorsement is also a question mark for me. Ron lives in the state and hasn't said anything about him.