You shall not pass
William F. Buckley famously described the conservative as “someone who stands athwart history, yelling “Stop,” at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”
This election may very well be our last chance to yell, “STOP!”
For nearly a century, Liberalism has continued its forward march to Fundamentally Transform this Republic — to undermine our Constitution, our culture, our heritage, our history and our central belief in Liberty.
When Barack Obama became President, this slow march to statism was kicked into high gear. And as our government expands its reach into every facet of our lives, the Republican Party has not, as Buckley described, stood athwart history yelling “Stop!” They pretty much politely apologized for standing in the way, then quietly skulked to the sidelines and let this stampede of Leftism continue.
Twenty years ago, the American people — both Republican and Democrat alike — would have laughed the decrepit, Soviet-loving Bernie Sanders off the stage. But today, thanks to a steady diet of Leftist indoctrination in our public schools and universities, Sanders is the darling of the supposed “millennials.”
If ever there was a time for us to stand up against this conquering of our nation, it is now.
This is the reason I support Ted Cruz. Cruz has, for his entire career, stood up against the Left. He fought the World Court and United Nations and prevented them from interfering with our sovereignty and our laws. He fought the Left’s attempt to remove the individual’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He believes in limited, constitutional government.
He isn’t looking to be a better manager of this over-bloated leviathan of a Federal Government, but rather, seeks to rein it in, to cut it down to size. The Left has used the unelected bureaucracy to lord over us, and Cruz seeks to dismantle it — not by tinkering around the edges, but by taking a knife to this rancid, growing tumor and removing it. He seeks to reduce the size of this bureaucracy by ending the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and through the implementation of a flat tax, abolish this massive, intrusive, “law unto itself,” known as the Internal Revenue Service.
Cruz’s plan would reduce the size and scope of government, roll back intrusive regulations, eliminate agencies, bureaus, commissions and programs from the “Global Methane Initiative” and the “UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” to sugar and ethanol subsidies that drain from the people our own hard-earned money.
Like Reagan, Cruz would take a hacksaw to the ever-expanding Executive Branch bureaucracy that is bleeding us dry.
Somebody has to stand up and fight back. It has been what We the People have been demanding since Obama came into office. It is exactly the thing we expected from those we elected in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah. He says he’s going to do those things, but why should we believe him?”
Here’s all I can tell you. Ted Cruz has been one of the few Republicans we sent to Washington in the last few years who has actually done what he said he would. He has, as Buckley said, stood athwart history and yelled, “Stop!”
Is he perfect?
No.
None of these candidates are.
But while the other Republican candidates run on the promise to be the best manager of this big, fat, intrusive, bloodsucking Government, Ted Cruz is running to put a stop to this big, fat, intrusive, bloodsucking Government.
This is what Conservatives do. It is about putting the power back into the hands of the people by systematically dismantling the very entity that is standing in the way of our Lives, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.
The next President will come into office with a twenty trillion dollar national debt, collapsing entitlement programs, a total unfunded liability of over one hundred trillion dollars. We don’t need a President who promises to rearrange the deck chairs on this Titanic Ship of State. We don’t need a President who simply promises to put really smart people in charge of managing this collapsing Ship of State.
We need a President who turns this Ship of State around before we are sunk under the crushing weight of this bloated Federal government and this massive debt.
Cruz seeks to begin the dismantling necessary to turn this ship around.
These were the things that Ronald Reagan sought to do. Was he able to do them all? Of course not. But the difference between Reagan and, say, George W. Bush couldn’t be more clear. Reagan stood athwart history and yelled, “STOP!” He deregulated industries. He returned our money back to us by reining in the size of government. Bush, on the other hand, expanded government, increased spending, added agencies and departments, and compounded the debt.
As Reagan said, Government isn’t the solution to our problems; Government is the problem. The solution is Liberty.
And the only way we get there is through conservatism: limited government, a dismantling of these parasitical unelected bureaucracies, and a return to the Constitution.
Will it be easy?
Of course not. The Democrats will fight us as they always do. The limp-wristed, weak-kneed Republicans will be fearful of rocking the boat or betraying their cronies in Washington and all the leeches who feed at the Big Government trough.
That is why we need someone who isn’t afraid to take the lead, to fight back, to stand up for Liberty, to defend the Constitution, to stand athwart history yelling, “STOP!”
And of these six men remaining in this race, I believe the man most likely to actually stand his ground and fight to stop this growing, tyrannical, debt-laden government is Ted Cruz.
Take a look at Cruz’s plan to restore Liberty by shrinking the size and power of the Federal Government by clicking HERE.
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Dianny,
I’ve been saying everything you wrote above for many months now, but with nowhere near the clarity and power that you have in this brilliant piece. You’ve always been one of my favorite bloggers, but to me this post is the pinnacle. Kudos. Ring the tip jar bell!
Took me a second to recognize that was Ted Cruz. Tell that hippie to get a haircut!
Cruz is IMHO our best shot at turning things around. Hopefully he places no lower than #2 in SC.
“The solution is Liberty.”
That is the number one point that should be made for all campaigns to preserve this once great country!
After I read this, I wanted to shout “Hurrah!” I wanted to, but I didn’t. Activity does not equal achievement and it’s going to take more than standing at the dais and shouting “Stop!” to make things happen. And that means it’s going to take committed leadership AND skilled management rooted not in dogmatic liberalism or conservatism but in a fundamental belief in the overriding wisdom of the Constitution.
Unless there is a tidal wave of Cruz people elected to Congress, something other than his filibustering skills will be necessary to pass legislation that begins to turn us around. You know I don’t endorse Trump, but “deal-making” is essential to passing legislation, especially when it’s all tied to a budget. In Reagan’s eight years of conservatism, and we had a good eight years of prosperity, the national debt still rose from $790B (25% of GDP) to $2.2T (39%GDP). It takes skilled management to stay within budget.
It’s too easy to glibly say end DoEd, DoE, DoC, HUD, IRS, etc.; but how? Reagan was a fighter and yet he failed with DoEd — the smallest Federal Department and one nobody wanted, but it’s still with us. In fact, he probably did more harm to local schools in the dream of making us more competitive by increasing corporate influence in the education system which undermined the power of local school boards and parents. He tried to shrink the IRS, but succeeded instead in increasing the size of the IRS to an all-time high. The departments you listed for the axeman employee more than 120,000 people — we’re talking decent folks with families — who answered the nation’s call for service and are serving. If I was in their shoes I would prefer a skilled manager, not a shrill Senator, to tackle the massive problems that come with downsizing.
From time to time, “Tank Man” figures may win temporary victories, but history overwhelmingly supports the indirect approach as being the most successful. In the end, I believe in a President that exhibits the kind of leadership/management attitude that WWII hero and US President Dwight David Eisenhower so astutely identified, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
Problem is, there is no “skilled manager who can tackle the massive problems that come with downsizing” running for President. There are things I’d rather have too, but we have to play the hand we are dealt. If Scott Walker hadn’t dropped out, then we would have a different option. But he dropped out.
Nicely put, Dianny. I hope that between the death of Scalia and Trump’s dust-up with the Pope, that serious people will wake up and realize that of the current candidates, Cruz represents the best chance for restoring individual liberty and reawakening the great American economic machine.
Let’s see: we have two Governors with state government executive experience (skilled enough as managers to be reelected — they did something right in their states), one billionaire businessman with decades of private industry executive experience (skilled enough as a manager to lead a very prosperous business enterprise), one pediatric neurosurgeon who has 30 years of major hospital department director experience (skilled enough as a manager to further enhance the reputation of an already world-renowned hospital — able enough to be the youngest ever division chief), and two US Senators with no executive experience between them and next to nothing in legislative accomplishments (one of the two managing a campaign that can’t even photoshop fraudulent pictures with any degree of skill). Playing “the hand we are dealt,” as you call it, I would say dump the two no-experience senators. After eight years of a “no experience, willing to start at the top” US Senator becoming president, I’m not getting fooled twice.
Like you, I was disappointed Scott Walker dropped out.
The key word was “downsize.” Neither Jeb nor Kasich fit the bill. They do not want to shrink the size of government. Didn’t we learn that not all Governors make good Presidents? (Carter) (GW Bush grew government). Trump loves Big Government nearly as much as he loves Twitter. Didn’t we learn that businessmen don’t necessarily have a clue how to govern? (Hoover). We do not need someone who thinks he can simply better manage this over-bloated government, and that is what all three of them seek to do.
Cruz was Solicitor General of Texas. It isn’t like he was community organizing on Chicago’s South Side before being elected to the Senate. He has had a life of purpose. He isn’t some do-nothing with a political machine behind him. Obama sucks because he is a Leftist, not because he was a first-term Senator. He would suck just as much if he’d been Governor of Illinois and not Senator.
You and I have to agree to disagree on this.
Personally, I’m sick and tired of people yammering on about our Constitution and conservatism yet when election time comes, they are some of the first to throw up their hands in defeat before the shooting starts, saying, “oh they’ll never let Cruz do anything he seeks to do.” Cruz doesn’t strike me as someone who easily backs down from a fight. And, I believe, like Reagan, he could go directly to the American people and make his case.
🙂 Okeedokee. We can certainly agree that we won’t be pulling the Democratic lever in this election! To paraphrase William F Buckley, I would rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the telephone directory than to the Dems.
And thanks again for your thought provoking commentary. I really enjoy the mental workout…it’s so difficult to actually exchange viewpoints these days since most people can’t seem to get beyond talking points. I mustn’t be on the talking points bulletin service…like you, I think for myself. Cheers, Dianny.