It’s Time For Candidate Ted Cruz To Stop Talking

Adithya PrabhakaranTHE SANTA CLARAFebruary 11, 2016

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he night of the Iowa Caucus, I watched in awe as Senator Ted Cruz—the single most unlikeable politician I have ever known—delivered his insufferably long victory speech.

With no surprise, Senator Cruz spoke for an unbearably long time. This is of course, the man who once held the Senate hostage for 21 hours speaking against the Affordable Care Act (stopping to read from children’s books at certain points).

While the prospect of Ted Cruz in the Oval Office is certainly horrifying, there is the argument that we should not care about Iowa’s results.

After all, this is the state that chose Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee in the last two elections, neither of whom ended up as the party’s nominee.

However, Cruz is quite different than these two men in his potential to win the nomination.

This is a man who is considered to be one of the leading conservative intellectual voices in the country.

A man who has argued in front of the Supreme Court nine times, five of which he won. For reference, arguing in front of the Supreme Court once in your career is considered a huge achievement.

Cruz has thrived in the reactionary movement that has held Congress from meaningful legislation and bipartisanship for much of the Obama presidency.

In our current primary, where the establishment is viewed with suspicion and grassroots movements are succeeding, Cruz may actually have a shot at the GOP nomination.

The promises Cruz makes in his campaign range from absurd to downright terrifying—he is anti-woman, Islamophobic, a climate change denier, wants to repeal Obamacare (which would, by most accounts, cause a national healthcare crisis at this point) and the list goes on.

Of course, many politicians in his party share similar views. But the alarming difference is that Cruz seems to legitimately believe he can accomplish his goals, and even more frightening, he thinks he has reason to believe he could.

A Ted Cruz presidency coupled with a Republican Congress after the elections this year would spell disaster for this country. Barack Obama’s legacy would be dismantled into pieces.

With potential Supreme Court nominations coming to the next president, even this judicial body may suddenly move to the far right, rather than the middle (something Cruz has repeatedly vowed to make happen).

Democrat or Republican, we should all be wary of the possibility of a man like Cruz rising to power.

While other GOP contenders may not seem particularly attractive to liberals based on their views, Cruz is special in his unwillingness to ever reach across party lines and strict adherence to ideology.

These qualities that Cruz so strongly possesses are the worst aspects of American politics, and should be condemned, not condoned. To quote Cruz (quoting scripture, of course) in his victory speech: “Weeping may endure a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

I can only hope that the joy coming in the morning is someone other than Ted Cruz sitting in the White House.

Adithya Prabhakaran is a senior computer science and engineering major.