Glenn Addison supporters, Ron Paul supporters, tea partiers and liberty lovers of every stripe should now be jumping up and down at the prospect of a candidate with Cruz’s constitutionally conservative positions potentially defeating a Republican like Dewhurst. Ron Paul is old enough to remember when this kind of stuff would’ve never happened (his movement has allowed it to happen). I suspect this has a lot to do with his endorsement of Cruz. The same is likely true of Rand Paul, who not only endorsed Cruz, but desperately needs his help in the Senate. You can bet a Senator Dewhurst will be joining the neoconservative Three Musketeers John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman on key votes. You can bet a Senator Cruz will be joining the Tea Party Caucus of Rand Paul, Jim DeMint and Mike Lee, who’ve all endorsed him.
Some of my fellow Ron Paul supporters cite the fact that former Sen. Rick Santorum endorsed Cruz as reason to be suspicious. But on the issues I like least about Santorum — big government, foreign policy and civil liberties — Cruz’s views are far closer to mine than to Santorum’s. Still, Santorum obviously saw some worth in endorsing Cruz, and Cruz has obviously benefited from being endorsed by Santorum.
In order to be successful in politics, you have to build as large a coalition as possible. This necessarily means making all sorts of alliances, some comfortable, some not. Rand Paul said in 2010 that he wanted to be judged by how he voted, not how he campaigned. Sen. Paul has proved to be every bit the conservative his father’s supporters hoped he would be. Ted Cruz is a not my perfect candidate. Few are (actually, none are) — but I think Ted Cruz will vote as a constitutional conservative more often than 99% of the Republicans I’ve seen in my lifetime.
This is not supporting the lesser of two evils. This is beating evil.
Jack Hunter (also known by his radio moniker the “Southern Avenger”) is a frequent guest on Fox Business, Michael Savage’s nationally syndicated radio program “The Savage Nation” and a frequent guest host on The Mike Church Show on Sirius XM. Hunter is the co-author of “The Tea Party Goes to Washington” by Sen. Rand Paul, assisted Sen. Jim DeMint with his book “Now or Never: How to Save America from Economic Collapse” and writes the Paulitical Ticker blog for the Ron Paul 2012 Campaign.
