Comparing Resumes, Part I

The Spherical Model is about the principles that lead to freedom, prosperity, and thriving civilization. There’s a political sphere to that. But I am not a political pundit. I have opinions, including opinions on candidates, based on how we best get to the goals, which are embodied in adherence to the US Constitution, free enterprise, and a righteous people with strong families.

Sometimes getting to the goal involves talking about candidates and elections. Getting it right this election year—this election primary, which is upon us—is critical for the survival of our civilization.

I’m not trying to be hyperbolic. Currently our leadership is sinking us fast into the tyranny zone. But for the capital we had built up through years of relative obedience to the principles in the Constitution, we would be as deep into tyranny as any European socialist nation, and possibly closer to various dictatorships. The goal to “transform America” was literal and purposeful. If you want to understand what “progressive” means in the political world, it is moving purposefully toward tyranny, poverty, and savagery.

The only way out is to stop and turn the country around. Northward, in Spherical Model terms.

It is not enough to elect someone who might not sink us as fast. We have to do everything right for a good long while. We have to restore. The difference right now is drastic. Just consider the difference between today’s Supreme Court, which ordered us to redefine marriage so that has nothing to do with permanency, exclusivity, and parenting biological offspring. We have a chance to get 2-4 more “progressive” activist justices or 2-4 Constitution-upholding justices. And the effects of these appointees will be with us for two or more decades.

We need a leader who understands and follows the Constitution. One who can identify our God-given rights and the role of government to protect them—and government’s limit to that role.

We need a leader who understands that any government spending beyond its limited role is money that would be better spent by the people who earned it. We need a leader who recognizes the power of a free market economy combined with a charitable people to bring on prosperity and lead everyone out of poverty.

We need a leader who lives a life of integrity. Someone honest, selfless, steadfast, and preferably really smart. We need him to understand and value family. He needs to be religious—so that he understands what “God-given rights” means.

Right now, a week or so before the Iowa caucus, the first circus of the season, the Republican Primary appears to be mainly a two-person race: Trump and Cruz. So I’d like to spend a couple of days comparing them to the rubric we conservatives have been carving in stone these past seven years.

Today I’ll recount Ted Cruz’s resume, and see if he qualifies. Next post I plan to see how Trump measures up.

Ted Cruz, interview with Glenn Beck in October

Ted Cruz—Born for Such a Time as This?

Last week I was listening to Glenn Beck radio; he is a Cruz supporter. He happened to say something like, “If you could get a candidate that was exactly the Constitutional person you want….” And then he went ahead and listed Cruz’s resume. I looked for the segment this week, but don’t remember which day it aired, so I didn’t find it. Finally I did an online search and found a piece written last August, which I am pretty sure Beck was reading from.

I’ve been familiar with Cruz's background—we covered a lot of it here in Texas when he ran for the Senate. And I’ve heard his father, Rafael Cruz, talk about his background as well. The resume starts after high school, so I’ll start with a recounting of the high school experience, which I wrote last February:

As Ted was entering high school, he was introduced to a leader of the American Enterprise Institute who got him reading classics. From there, Ted, in a group of five, formed what was called the Constitution Club. They memorized the Constitution. They toured the state, doing Rotary Club lunches and other forums. They would write the Constitution on several blackboards while people were eating. Then they would give speeches on free market economics.

A young Ted Cruz gave some 80 such speeches during his high school years.

Now, for the resume. As I said, I tracked it down to an article from August, by Young Conservatives editor John S. Roberts, which linked a piece from 2013, where the resume had appeared; Roberts has updated with Cruz’s efforts in the Senate:

§  Graduated valedictorian in 1988 from Second Baptist High School

§  Graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1992

§  Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1995

§  1992 U.S. National Debate Champion representing Princeton

§  1995 World Debating Championship semi-finalist representing Harvard

§  Served as law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, making him the first Hispanic ever to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States

§  Served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008, making him the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas, the youngest Solicitor General in the entire country, and the longest tenure in Texas history

§  Partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice

§  Authored over 80 SCOTUS briefs and presented over 40 oral arguments before The Court

§  In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz assembled a coalition of 31 states in defense of the principle that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms

§  Presented oral arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

§  Defended the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds

§  Defended the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools

§  Defended the State of Texas against an attempt by the International Court of Justice to re-open the criminal convictions of 51 murderers on death row throughout the United States

§  Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission

§  Domestic Policy Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign

§  Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation

§  Ted Cruz is currently junior US Senator from Texas, defeating Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst who was heavily favored and backed by the DC old-guard GOP

§  Defeated Democrat Paul Sadler in the general election

§  Endorsed by The Tea Party and the Republican Liberty Caucus

§  AWARDS: “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business,” Chambers USA (2009 & 2010); “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America,” National Law Journal (2008); “25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century,” Texas Lawyer (2010); “20 Young Hispanic Americans on the Rise,” Newsweek (1999); Traphagen Distinguished Alumnus, Harvard Law School

§  On November 14, 2012, Cruz was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee

§  Unlike Obama, Cruz didn’t sit in the U.S. Senate and vote “present.” He has sponsored 97 bills. Here are a few crucial pieces of legislation sponsored by Cruz:

§  ObamaCare Repeal Act

§  Prohibit use of drones from killing citizens of the United States within the United States

§  Disarm Criminals and Protect Communities Act

§  Firearm Straw Purchasing and Trafficking Prevention Act

§  Defund Obamacare Act of 2013

§  A bill to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to permit States to require proof of citizenship for registration to vote in elections for Federal office

§  A bill to designate the United States courthouse located at 101 East Pecan Street in Sherman, Texas, as the Paul Brown United States Courthouse

§  A bill to require the Secretary of State to offer rewards of up to $5,000,000 for information regarding the attacks on the United States diplomatic mission at Benghazi, Libya, that began on September 11, 2012

§  State Marriage Defense Act of 2014

§  A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the intentional discrimination of a person or organization by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service

§  A bill to prohibit the Department of the Treasury from assigning tax statuses to organizations based on their political beliefs and activities

§  American Energy Renaissance Act of 2014

§  A bill to deny admission to the United States to any representative to the United Nations who has been found to have been engaged in espionage activities or a terrorist activity against the United States and poses a threat to United States national security interests

§  SuperPAC Elimination Act of 2014

§  Free All Speech Act of 2014

§  Guantanamo Bay Detainee Transfer Suspension Act of 2014

§  A bill to require the Secretary of State to offer rewards totaling up to $5,000,000 for information on the kidnapping and murder of Naftali Fraenkel, a dual United States-Israeli citizen, that began on June 12, 2014

§  A bill to prevent the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program unlawfully created by Executive memorandum on August 15, 2012

§  Sanction Iran, Safeguard America Act of 2014

§  Expatriate Terrorists Act

§  Operation United Assistance Tax Exclusion Act of 2014

If you heard that he doesn’t play well with others, how do you explain the coalition building in his record? If you’ve heard that nobody likes him in the Senate, maybe you’re not asking the right people; maybe you’re listening to the one’s he’s standing up against (the entire Democrat party and a good portion of his own party)—which is what we elected him to do. We didn’t elect him to go make friends with the people who were failing us Americans.

One baffling complaint I’ve heard is that Cruz doesn’t sound genuine, or that he sounds like a preacher. If you think he’s not genuine, you haven’t done your homework. If you think he sounds like a preacher, and that’s offensive to you, maybe you need to recognize your own filter, turn it off, and listen again. What you’re hearing is articulate truth from a genuinely good man, who loves our country and sees clearly that the way to say America is to return to the brilliant, inspired Constitution, and also happens, not coincidentally, to love God.

You might not know that he has a special skill, like a photographic memory, only auditory, called an audiographic memory. He hears something, and he has perfect recall. So sometimes you’re hearing him say the same things again, with the same words, not because he has slickly memorized a script, but because he remembers how he last said it. Example: “If I’m elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I plan to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional action taken by Barack Obama.” That was from the closing statement of the first debate in August. He says is again and again, on radio, in townhalls. He probably says it the same way in casual conversation. He means it.

Interestingly, it’s almost exactly what Marco Rubio is now saying. In last week’s debate Rubio said, “When I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders.”  He has begun saying it in interviews and townhalls as well. I’m glad Rubio is saying it too; they all should say it and mean it, if they want to be our president. But maybe he ought to give a hat tip to Cruz, since some of us have pretty good memories too.

Trump isn’t saying it. He says executive order abuse is wrong generally, but he’ll use executive orders too, since Obama started it—only he’ll use them for better purposes. And stuff.

Someday we’ll do fuller coverage of Cruz’s religious belief, which I believe is genuine. For now I’ll just link to this video telling the story of his faith: here.

In part II we’ll take a closer look at Donald Trump.