OPINION
Right Wing Religious Extremists Rush to Defend Ted Cruz

Two right wing religious extremists have rushed to defend Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his trip to Cancun while the rest of Texas is in a state of emergency. Texas is currently sandwiched between two storms, the first dropped temperatures to single-digits earlier this week, knocking out the power grid for millions, the second is slated to hit Thursday, again bringing extreme low temperatures.
Senator Cruz opted to fly to Mexico rather than stay on the ground in his home state to help Texas residents.
Some of Cruz’s defenders, like religious right extremists Erick Erickson and Dinesh D’Souza, think there’s nothing a sitting U.S. Senator could do in a crisis.
They’re wrong.
First, here’s what they’re saying:
What could @tedcruz do if he were here in Texas? I’m hard-pressed to say. If he’s in Cancun, that means he’s not using up valuable resources of energy, food and water that can now be used by someone else. This is probably the best thing he could do for the state right now
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 18, 2021
The fact that people think Ted Cruz, a United States Senator, can do anything about a state power grid, even his own, is rather demonstrative of the ignorance of so many people who cover politics. They’d rather performative drama than substance.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 18, 2021
I’m sorry Ted Cruz is not there to emote with you people.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 18, 2021
“You people.” As in, millions of Texans trying to not freeze or starve to death.
What they’re exposing is their ignorance about government.
Conservatives, at least Republicans in general, tend to think government serves little important function. They love to toss around the old Reagan joke: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.'”
In times of crisis, often the government is the only entity that can effectively help.
And don’t forget – we are the government. Government is people, the people we choose to lead and represent us. We hope they do it well.
Because conservatives don’t believe in government they consistently abuse it, under-estimate it, and make it worse.
So here’s what a few experts are saying about what Cruz could have done instead of fleeing to sunny Mexico.
First, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, who was the Deputy Policy Director for Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett:
Former congressional staff here. Every congressional office has a big constituent services function. During local crises that part of the office gets busy and the member can get personally involved.
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) February 18, 2021
For a more in-depth explanation, here’s a senior fellow from the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. Notice how he uses the same word “performative,” but explains why that’s not what good lawmakers do.
People who think the job of a member of Congress during a local natural disaster is purely performative have definitely never been around a member of Congress during a local natural disaster. It might be the single situation where they can (and do) most affect policy outcomes.
— Matt Glassman (@MattGlassman312) February 18, 2021
“In a local emergency,” Glassman says, lawmakers “are conduit to tons of resources and a resource who can effectively coordinate certain sets of actors and lean on people to make things happen. Can very much turn into administrators.”
It’s sort of like their normal casework load, but on steroids and short notice. There’s a reason members are glued to their phones and don’t sleep when a natural disaster hits their district, and it’s emphatically *not* so they can show their constituents how hard they work.
— Matt Glassman (@MattGlassman312) February 18, 2021
Apparently, no one told Senator Cruz, or his religious right supporters.
Image by Matt Johnson via Flickr and a CC license
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