Republican Ted Cruz was the first individual to announce their candidacy in the 2016 presedential election. Here is everything you need to know about Cruz and his campaign.
Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada to parents Eleanor and Rafael. His father, a Cuban native, grew up fighting alongside rebel groups against the oppressive regime of Fulgencio Batista. Consequently, he was captured and tortured, but fled to the United States in 1957 and worked his way paying for college. Rafael Cruz eventually received a mathematics degree from the University of Texas and met Eleanor Darragh soon after, who also possessed a degree in math. The two combined their mathematic prowess and did data processing work for oil companies in Canada. The market for this particular work was lucrative and, thusly, the two experienced an equal share of highs and lows. The business eventually failed and Cruz’s father went on to be a pastor in Dallas.
Cruz’s political identity began to develop early in life. His high school education took place at Second Baptist in Houston. This institution instilled a fundamental understanding of Christianity that is key to his ideologies today. It was also here where he fostered a deep appreciation for free-market economics. He accumulated scholarship money from delivering speeches on the free-market philosopher Friedrich Hayek and was able to attend Princeton University. He graduated cum laude (“with honor”) with a B.A. in Arts in Public Policy. After Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School where he received a Juris Doctor degree in 1995.
Cruz’s post-educational life began with a series of clerkships under law officials and shortly dabbling in private practice. The latter of which had Cruz working with the NRA on legal matters. These opportunities brought him to serve the Bush Administration as a domestic policy adviser in 1999. After this position he went back to legal work as the Texas solicitor general. It wasn’t until 2013 that his political presence was solidified with an election to the Senate.
Today, Cruz is running as a presidential candidate for the 2016 election. Cruz is a religiously oriented conservative with a unique fascination towards the Constitution. Cruz uses this document as the basis for his entire campagin. He cites the 10th amendment as his rallying cry to emphasize that the government only has as much power as the constitution allows. In fact, smaller governmet is a staple of Cruz’s political diet. Lowering barriers between church and state, prohibitions on abortion, and lack of recognition for gay rights are also key aspects of his agenda. He’s a passionate opponent of Obamacare, which he believes, is a severe breach between the rights of federal government and state. His ideas are very much representative of tea party politics. The pinnacle of Cruz’s radicalism was revealed when he called to abolish the IRS during his candidacy announcement speech at Liberty University. Ideas like these are why Cruz has come under fire. But, it is these same ideas that have major weaponization potential against other Republican candidates. Cruz, arguably the “rightest” of the right, may certainly label himself as a true conservative and his opponents as politically dishonest or untrue to the Republican party with their moderate tendencies (i.e. Jeb Bush, Chris Christie).
In order to win, Cruz must market himself as the reasonable cure to “Obama fatigue”. The Republican party has become restless over Obama’s term and Cruz may be the tide-changing savior they need. However, his tough stance on hot button topics and his radical ideologies may prove to be a detriment towards his legitimacy as a candidate. The only way for Cruz to maintain momentum in his political journey is to widen his demographic. His current focus zeroes in on conservative Christians and tea partiers, but that just won’t be enough to capture the bigger picture.