2016 Nov 30^th

A year and a day ago I did this piece about Senator Ted Cruz. At the time I thought that his many faults completely disqualified him for the presidency. And now I am sure that by comparison to what we have wrought he would be splendid.

Dec 1^st 2015

Today we’ll take a brief look at Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz is not loved by the senior members of his own party. He is, after all, the junior senator from Texas and as such he is by custom supposed to keep his head down and speak rarely. He hasn’t kept his head down and he certainly hasn’t kept his mouth shut, even going so far as to calling the leader of his own party, Senator McConnell, a liar and doing it on the Senate floor. Indeed he had very unkind things to say about all the Republican Senators in a subsequent, and unusual, Sunday session. This man aspires to the Presidency, he is doing quite well in the polls, but if he can’t even make nice with members of his own party how can he govern if he is elected?

The Senator has so far been very careful not to get lodged crosswise with Mr. Trump. He has managed to mimic some of Trump’s more outrageous positions. He hasn’t locked in on Trump’s insistence on deporting eleven million undocumented immigrants but he has condemned Senator Rubio who some years back suggested an amnesty method that would allow them to get green cards and stay where they are.

His most recent and rather curious comment is to accuse the Democrats of focusing on what he calls the condom police. Now it is obvious to anyone that there is a certain segment of society that opposes any form of birth control. The Catholic Churches’ position on the issue is well known. It is also well known that not all Catholics accept the Church’s position. Cruz, a Catholic, is quite forthright in suggesting that he has no problems with condoms. He says that he has two daughters and that he has no wish to have seventeen children.

(Cruz is not only unwilling to abide by Catholic teaching about birth control, he has gone so far as suggesting that the Pope should “be fired.” He is very unhappy about the Pope’s comments on climate change. He says, “I don’t know how that whole Papal thing works but if they can fire him they should.” He’s absolutely right; he has no idea about how that whole thing works.)

It is quite clear that many in the fundamentalist community have a problem with many methods of birth control.  They oppose any procedure that keeps a fertilized egg, which they believe is already a human being, from implanting in the uterus, This eliminates a number of birth control methods including the famous “morning after pill” as well as devices inserted in the uterus which prevent an embryo from implanting. The result is that while relatively few fundamentalists object to a birth control method which is no more than a barrier to the sperm reaching an egg there are many other birth control methods which they find objectionable.

Cruz has also come up with the notion, devoid of any supporting data, that most convicted felons are Democrats.  I believe that most people would find it odd if many convicted felons were registered to vote in any political party. Certainly once they are convicted of a felony their voting rights are often severely restricted; just how restricted depends on their state of residence. Cruz is an attorney and he should know that. He probably does but he is a candidate in search of an issue. He should keep looking.