GOP U.S. Senator Ted Cruz appears to be doing everything humanly possible to become the next president of the United States. And his father, Rafael Cruz, a pastor, advises his son, and paves the road to the evangelical Christian community, opening doors that would otherwise remain locked. The senior Cruz has become his son’s traveling companion, chief evangelist, and de-facto campaign manager, according the the very right wing National Review.
In short, Rafael Cruz is sculpting his son’s platform and beliefs.
And that’s a problem for America, and the Republican Party.
When Rafael Cruz says, as he did a few months ago, that “communism or socialism, whatever you want to call it … is happening in this country,” and it is “the same thing,” “not different than what happened in Cuba,” Americans should be gravely concerned that Ted Cruz might become president.
What is happening in this country is neither communism nor socialism, and confusing those two political systems displays a frighteningly ignorant grasp of reality and understanding of how the world works.
When Rafael Cruz says that “homosexual marriage… has nothing to do with homosexual rights,” Americans should be gravely concerned that Ted Cruz might become president.
When Rafael Cruz says that the “whole objective” of communists or socialists (“whatever you want to call it,”) “is the destruction of the traditional family,” Americans should be gravely concerned that Ted Cruz might become president.
When Rafael Cruz says that “communism and evolution go hand and hand. Evolution is one of the strongest tools of Marxism because if they can convince you that you came from a monkey, it’s much easier to convince you that God does not exist,” Americans should be gravely concerned that Ted Cruz might become president.
Regardless of the fact that Ted Cruz has little chance of ever becoming president, he and his father are becoming Tea Party heroes, and their antediluvian beliefs will swing the GOP even further to the right — forcing other presidential hopefuls to have to move with them.
Remember when the most moderate Republican candidate for president, John Huntsman, was forced to backtrack on his statement that climate change was real? That’s the effect people like Ted and Rafael Cruz will have American politics.
Americans should be gravely concerned.
//www.youtube.com/embed/ovKa2wXUO-0
Video and transcript via Right Wing Watch