My Turn: Cruz has best blueprint to move nation forward

‘To restore America,” says Sen. Ted Cruz, “we must rein in the leviathan. We must revive our love story with liberty and restore America as a shining City on a Hill.”



How vital it is to cut back the power and intrusiveness of the federal government! When government is big, the rich gain wealth faster than the poor, because the rich induce government to help them. Liberals say they intend to help the poor, but their policies actually widen the gap between rich and poor.



Cruz is the best candidate to begin a reversal.



“Never underestimate Ted Cruz,” said professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School. “He is off-the-chart brilliant.” Plus, the man is a dynamic speaker.



To tackle the massive Social Security program, he will need this skill to persuade younger workers to convert to personal savings. Cruz has sponsored legislation that would repeal Obamacare. He wants health care subjected to free markets. Government’s deep involvement in American health care has reduced its quality and convenience and greatly increased its costs. A previous government shutdown of Obamacare, he notes, led to a blowout election victory for conservatives in 2014.



The senator points out that government welfare creates dependence. Since 1965, the federal government has spent $22 trillion, not including Social Security and Medicare, waging war on poverty. This is three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the American Revolution, even after adjusting for inflation. Yet the poor are no more self-sufficient than they were 50 years ago. Cruz wants the government to abide by the Constitution. Government is the only entity legally empowered to exert force over citizens.



The Constitution was designed to reduce the use of force by setting up three branches of government partly to counteract one another. Abiding by the Constitution would be a welcomed change.



Members of Congress, says the senator, should be subject to term limits. Regardless of party affiliation, the longer a person remains in Congress, the more likely he or she votes for bigger government. Maybe it’s in the Potomac River waters. Shouldn’t term limits apply to judges as well? Advanced medical science makes the word “lifetime” too long for a person to exercise power over other citizens.



Ted Cruz wants the Export-Import Bank closed. Using money taxed from ordinary Americans, it pays welfare to big corporations. Eliminating the Ex-Im Bank might reduce the income of union members working for those corporations, but they’re already well paid. He proposes a flat income tax “where the average American can fill out taxes on a postcard.” He wants to eliminate the federal death tax. He also suggests the abolishment of the IRS. (This is problematical: Unless all government revenues are raised as voluntary gifts – which seems like a terrific idea to me – income must be verified by someone.)



Cruz is “adamantly opposed to higher minimum wage.” Since many people receiving minimum wages are wives of working husbands or young people living at home, the average person earning minimum wages has a household income of $53,000. Few people earn their livelihood solely from minimum wages. But because of minimum-wage laws (not to mention, miserable, unionized city schools), the unemployment rate for young black males approaches 50 percent. They have no opportunity to learn to show up for work on time, accept supervision, and step on the first rung of the ladder of success.



The senator is a proponent of school choice, thereby providing unionized schools with competition. Cruz opposed an amendment stating that humans significantly contribute to climate change. He has called the Environmental Protection Agency “unbelievably abusive” and “populated by zealots.” He supports the Keystone XL pipeline and offshore drilling. Cruz offered an amendment to increase by five times the number of skilled foreign workers entering the United States with H-1B visas. He opposes gun controls. He also opposes net neutrality, believing that Internet regulation would stifle innovation and create monopolies.



Private ownership and free markets have brought billions of people out of poverty. Consumer choices and competition between suppliers cut costs, promote quality, increase safety, elevate ethics, and improve the lot of almost everyone. Using government force to do away with the “almost” makes things worse, especially for the poor. As people meet their individual needs, they solve the nation’s collective needs better and with less cost than government can possibly achieve.



Sen. Ted Cruz is the best candidate to bring this about.







(Archie M. Richards Jr., who was formerly a syndicated weekly newspaper columnist on money matters, lives in Concord.)





