OPINION:
Well over 30 years removed from our last truly conservative presidential candidate, a rare opportunity to elect another presents itself in candidate Ted Cruz. Genial of nature yet fierce in conviction, Sen. Cruz needn’t be Ronald Reagan any more than Ronald Reagan needed to be Abraham Lincoln. We simply need Cruz to be Cruz.
Demonized by both parties and the media while solidly possessing all three legs of the conservative stool (defense, fiscal policy and social issues) Sen. Cruz possesses the temperament and intellect fictitiously ascribed to Barack Obama and stands alone articulating a liberty-minded, small- government, constitutionally based philosophy matched by his record. While every candidate agreed with his demand for defunding Planned Parenthood and the Iran deal, not one publicly supported him when rhetoric required action. Will candidates who lack the fortitude to fight today suddenly discover a spine post-election?
Mr. Cruz has indelibly left his imprimatur on the Washington ruling class rather than being co-opted by it. Eschewing his Senate colleagues’ penchant for surrender and embrace of systemic, institutionalized corruption, Mr. Cruz publicly exposes their duplicity in masking the betrayal of their campaign promises and constituents under the guise of comity, decorum and bipartisanship.
Needing no Romney-esque adjective preceding the word conservative, Mr. Cruz is a political Leonidas, single-handedly fighting his aptly named “Washington cartel” in order to save the republic from irreversible constitutional damage via the collusion of both parties.
Rather than asking when Ted Cruz will surrender his principles and campaign promises, when will the media ask his party and opponents when they will discover theirs?
STEVEN DONNELLY
Cowansville, Pa.
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