The Race For The Republican Nomination: The First Is Officially In

The freshman senator from Texas, Ted Cruz has been the first to officially declare himself in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential elections, beating other presidential hopefuls. This has angered both the Democrat party and the “establishment” GOP, who see Ted as a troublemaker.

For months, entrenched Republican leadership have been talking about putting forth a moderate candidate, what the rest of us would call a RINO, even though they have never win when they’ve run a moderate in a presidential race.

But the popular Cruz has beaten both Jeb Bush and Chris Christie with his announcement. Old timers, like Mitch McConnel and John Boehner have already started throwing stones at him.

Cruz’s popularity shows how much the GOP leadership is out of touch with their own constituency. Rank and file Republicans trust him, both for his conservative stance and his blatant honesty.

Whereas other politicians beat around the bush and change their stance, capitulating to the White House, Cruz knows what he stands for and what he believes in. He seems to truly believe that he was sent to Washington to represent the people of Texas, not just the money men who backed his campaign.

In my personal opinion, Ted Cruz makes an excellent candidate for the Republican Party. American politics has been becoming more and more polarized throughout the last few decades, with our current president having worked overtime to split the nation in every way he could. Cruz stands in contrast to the far left that Barack Obama represents and makes no bones about it.

Being the First in Row Has Never Been Easy

By becoming the first declared candidate for the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz has placed himself on a pedestal to be shot at by politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle. Even so, it was a very astute move. Right now, he is the only declared presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential race, even beating out Hillary Clinton.

That means that he has all the attention of the media, both good and bad. It also means that the people of this country have an excellent opportunity to see his personality and hear his clearly stated message. Every other candidate will now be compared to him.

If this country is ever going to get back to its roots and back on its feet, after the devastation wrought about by the last six years, it’s going to take a strong conservative. We haven’t had one of those in office since the Reagan days. Oh, Bush was rather conservative, but not like Reagan and not like Ted Cruz either. In my opinion, of all the politicians I’ve seen since President Reagan was in office, Senator Cruz articulates the message of our Founding Fathers most clearly.

It’s no wonder either: he’s an experienced Constitutional lawyer, whose knowledge of the Constitution surpasses that of the sitting president. He has not only taught constitutional law, but has argued nine cases before the Supreme Court, as the Solicitor General of Texas. He can debate any point, even taking the opposing side, just to get his message across.

While it is too early in the campaign process to have any idea how it will turn out, I can predict one thing. Ted Cruz will receive more slings and arrows than any other candidate, fielded by either of the two major parties. His stand has earned him many enemies, who will stand strong against him.

What Cruz’s Victory Would Mean

But, what if he wins? What would that mean for America? That’s hard to say as well. But at a minimum, I think we can say that Ted will fight with everything he has within him, to turn around the decay of our country. What has been a slide into the fiscal and moral abyss may actually turn around.

The fact that Cruz is a minority doesn’t hurt either. A large part of why Obama got elected the first time was because of taking advantage of being a minority.

As another minority voice, Cruz will have the opportunity to bring about healing, especially between races. Perhaps a president who is not a race baiter can turn around the work of our current president, even if he isn’t Afro-American.

The other thing that pundits aren’t talking about yet is that we’re likely to see a Republican president voted in, with the Republican Party maintaining control of both houses of Congress. That will give the new president the same political advantage that Obama had in the first two years in office.

While the Republican Party will never be as united as the Democrats and will probably not just rubber stamp orders from the White House, like the Democrats have for the last six years, we will probably see two of the most productive years that Congress has had in the last century.

It’s going to be an interesting race. I wish Ted Cruz luck and hope he can stick it out.

To the rest of the Republicans, why not put your knives away and stop trying to stick him in the back, as he has enough real enemies as it is.