Texas Senate Race the Most Significant for Conservatives

Let's be clear. Ted Cruz isn't Ron Paul or Barry Goldwater. He isn't even Rand Paul or Mike Lee. For starters, Mr Cruz has no real record to run on. When specifically asked about his positions, he answers the questions well. However, he isn't out front leading against amnesty, agenda 21, the NDAA, or other areas. Still, he does have one significant thing going for him; he isn't David Dewhurst.

Lt Gov Dewhurst is the party's choice. Having been Lt Gov of Texas since 2003, and Railroad commissioner from 1999 to 2003, he is well entrenched in the state leadership. Before that, he worked for the CIA and the State Department.

The problem with Dewhurst is not that he is merely another party loyalist put in office to vote as they are told, shut their mouths, and enjoy the perks of the office like Josh Mandel in Ohio. Dewhurst is pro-active.

Two years ago, the state of Texas managed to pass legislation to kick out the TSA. Dewhurst publicly supported the legislation and then went around to individual State Senators twisting arms until support was so weak that it couldn't even be brought up for a vote. The legislation passed the House easily and seemed destined to pass the Senate just as easily but was squashed so significantly that it was never brought up again.

Now, Dewhurst is running ads claiming that "Ted Cruz’s law firm has given over $200,000 to Barack Obama." This sort of blatant misrepresentation of the truth is what makes "people" like David Dewhurst so dangerous. The simple truth is that Ted Cruz worked at an extremely large law firm that employed at least 1200 people. It is likely true that the sum total of all the people who worked at that law firm and donated to President Obama's campaign may be $200,000. However, there is no evidence that Ted Cruz even ever met these people. This wasn't "Ted Cruz's" law firm, it was just a large place where he worked.

This isn't the only example of claims made by Dewhurst that are just plain silly. But that isn't the point of this article. The point of this article is that if Dewhurst is willing to both kill bills in the State legislature while claiming to support them and put out claims about his opponent that are so demonstrable false as to be childish in nature, what can we expect about his behavior toward us if he manages to get elected?

The simple truth is that the Texas Senate race is not a contest between a conservative in Cruz and a moderate in Dewhurst. This is a contest to determine whether or not the Republican party is capable of ramming a fellow party member down the throats of Texas voters. This is about who controls the republican party in Texas - the senior party members or the voters in that state. This is about whether or not the people of Texas get a representative who will go to Congress and push for enforcement of immigration laws and a reduction of government spending in Cruz, or a Senator who will tells us why we are wrong for having these views in Dewhurst.

Senator Hutchison decided not to run for re-election because her voting record and history made her vulnerable to a primary defeat. If one of the more conservative states in the country cannot select a conservative to replace her, then it is time for conservatives to accept that the Republican party is not the vehicle we should be using to re-establish a constitutional government.