Cruz out to save souls, not to create jobs

DES MOINES, Iowa – It was more like a fundamentalist Christian revival meeting than a political rally. Ted Cruz told the crowd of a thousand Iowans that the nation has been on a sinful path since electing President Obama and that it can only be “saved” by taking to heart 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If my people … will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then … I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

The first step toward “healing the land,” Cruz said to some loud amens, was to vote for him in the Republican caucuses taking place February 1.

He made no mention whatsoever about plans to create jobs, raise wages, improve health care or make higher education affordable.

Despite his Biblical quote, there was nothing humble about Cruz’s showmanship. The rally, held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, was the political equivalent of a mega church production, complete with large screens playing slick videos with booming, epic music pouring out of premium speakers.

The Cruz campaign is being bankrolled by the Koch Brothers and by billionaire hedge fund magnate Robert Mercer. Now we see where the money is going.

To Cruz, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R.- Ky, is too leftwing. If elected President, Cruz said, he would make sure McConnell is politically punished for his wayward ways.

At the rally, Cruz repeated his pledge to throw out the U.S. tax code and replace it with a 19 percent “flat tax.”

Such a tax would hit poor and working people much harder than it would the rich.

Furthermore, a state flat tax has been disastrous to the economy of Illinois.

Cruz’s priorities are identical to those of the other high-polling Republican candidates. He pledged that on his “first day in office” he will repeal all of President Obama’s “unconstitutional” executive orders and “prosecute Planned Parenthood.” (He did not mention why. A grand jury in his home state, Texas, cleared the organization of all charges against it.)

He will also start to dismantle Obamacare.

Also on his “first day” he would “Instruct the IRS and the Department of Justice that the persecution of religious liberty ends today.” Cruz is an ardent supporter of Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, who has claimed that her “religious liberty” entitles her to ignore the rights of gay and lesbian people who want to get married.

Cruz evidentially will have a very busy first day if he’s elected. Along with everything else, on his “to-do” list is beginning the process of moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Moving the embassy there would be a direct violation of the rights of Palestinians and would bring that area of the Mideast closer to an all-out war. To Cruz, this would be a good thing. He believes it would hasten the return of the “messiah.”

He and his father, Pastor Rafael Cruz are believers in the “Seven Mountains mandate” which seeks Christian dominion over government, church, education, family, media, arts and business. Pastor Cruz has indicated to his mega church that his son may be a “Christian king” who is “anointed to go to war and bring the spoils of war to the priests.”

The crowd at the rally was enraptured.

Mika, from Newton, Iowa, a Cruz supporter, told the People’s World, “Ted Cruz is the most consistent conservative running right now. He’s the best suited to pick Supreme Court Justices in the next four to eight years. He knows the justice system inside and out.”

Cruz graduated from Harvard Law School. One of his professors was Alan Dershowitz, a world respected liberal lawyer.

Mika repeated a promise Cruz has sworn to keep: he will never compromise just to get something accomplished.

Mika said, “He’s about going to Washington and doing what he says he’s going to do, not going there to cut a deal.”

When asked what policy most resonated with him Mika said “I don’t think you understand, it’s not a specific one, it’s that he will do what he says he’s going to do.”

Photo: Earchiel Johnson/PW