My view is his primary victory is a big deal and reflective of the power of the We the People movement to take back our country. Long journeys start with small steps.
The Meaning of Cruz tells the tale:
"For all of the brawling between Republicans and Democrats, sometimes the most consequential elections are within each party. That's the case with the victory on Tuesday by 41-year-old Ted Cruz in the Texas Republican Senate primary, which shows that the reform wing of the GOP is continuing to expand.
Mr. Cruz blew away Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, who began as the heavy favorite, had his own fortune to draw on and was backed by the GOP establishment, including Governor Rick Perry. Mr. Cruz, who won by 14 points, had support from the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and other reform groups as he tapped into grass-roots unhappiness with status quo Republicans.
This marks the third Senate upset this year for conservatives running against party favorites. In Indiana, state treasurer Richard Mourdock defeated six-term incumbent Dick Lugar, and in Nebraska state Senator Debra "Deb" Fischer beat two far better known candidates. If they win in November, as they are favored to do, the trio will buttress the ranks of the GOP's reform caucus that includes such 2010 victors as Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.
Mr. Cruz attacked Mr. Dewhurst for being in Austin too long and for letting the budget in Texas grow too much. The jab that hurt most was reminding voters that in 2005 Mr. Dewhurst floated the idea of a wage tax in Texas, which looked to voters suspiciously like a back-door income tax. The plan died, and Mr. Dewhurst denied paternity, but the charge stuck.
Media grandees who are volunteering Republicans to vote for a tax increase, please take note. GOP voters don't agree.
Ted Cruz during his victory speech on
Wednesday.
Mr. Cruz, a son of a Cuban immigrant father, is both a populist and conservative intellectual. Texans showed enormous tolerance in not holding his Princeton-Harvard Law education against him, perhaps because he is a staunch supporter of what he calls "the forgotten Ninth and Tenth Amendments" of the Constitution.
He clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and former appellate judge J. Michael Luttig, and as Texas Solicitor General he successfully defended the state before the High Court in Medellin v. Texas (2008), after the International Court of Justice tried to override Texas's justice system. He wants a flat tax and would repeal every last comma of ObamaCare.
Mr. Cruz's triumph also shows the degree to which the GOP now has a growing number of nonwhite rising stars. They include Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whose family emigrated from Cuba, Indian-American Governors Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) and Nikki Haley (South Carolina), Governors of Latino descent Susana Martinez (New Mexico) and Brian Sandoval (Nevada), and black Congressmen Tim Scott (South Carolina) and Allen West of Florida. The conventional media wisdom is that the GOP is doomed to minority status as whites become a smaller share of voters. Not so fast.
As they grow in numbers and clout, the GOP's reformers will have to find a way to stay true to their free-market principles while being pragmatic enough to build coalitions to solve Washington's enormous problems. The promising news is that this is not your father's GOP, or even your older brother's."
Summing Up
Change is in the wind.
The Depublicans and Remocrats are being challenged by We the People.
Limited government isn't dead yet.
It's going to be long struggle, but in the end we'll win.
Whenever that is.
Thanks. Bob.
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