Dear Editor,
Perhaps the most informative sentence in Chris Boyajian’s piece last week “Why Cruz is the only RINO we should worry about” was its opening line: “Republican leadership took another hit from the conservative wing of the Republican Party with the resurfacing of the ‘Defund Obamacare’ initiative last week and Sen. Ted Cruz’s subsequent jump into the national spotlight.” While the two-party system certainly allows for broad definitions of political leanings, each party’s ideology tends to be agreed upon, at least from a top-level perspective. The Republican Party is supposed to be conservative. There is no conservative wing of the Republican Party, they are all conservatives.
Currently a crisis is raging inside the Republican Party over what it means to be a conservative today. In that crisis, the strong leaders of the not-too-distant neocon past are quickly losing ground to more traditional conservatives. Thus the party lacks a center of gravity. But Republicans are well on their way to re-establishing one. Sen. Ted Cruz appears to be an emerging voice in the national party, and he has become so largely at the expense of the Republican House leadership as well as that of the Senate.
To call Ted Cruz a self-aggrandizing RINO is like saying that George Washington was an egoist. Leaders are leaders for a reason.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” shows how a man with the ability to lead can have the spotlight thrust upon him. When George Bailey realized he alone could save the Bailey Building and Loan Association as its chairman, he became the automatic center of celebrity in Bedford Falls. He took the chairmanship to revitalize an organization vitally important to the townspeople, not to chase honor and glory.
If Sen. Ted Cruz is the only one who is willing to truly grab the bull by the horns and actually confront the issues, he shouldn’t be attacked for attempting to rock the boat in a bid for personal success. He should be praised for his fortitude.
Luke Adams ’16