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They say that blood runs thicker than water.

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Nowhere is this idea more prevalent in 21st century America than in the political world. Children get involved in government because they had a parent who was involved. Siblings of congressional candidates go door-to-door and make phone calls in order to acquire votes. Spouses of politicians attend all the fancy dinner parties and they become involved in various wheelings and dealings behind the scene. And, of course, parents get involved with their children, often times living vicariously through their son or daughter as he or she runs for, and hopefully gets elected to, a prominent national office.

This notion bears out with the actions of Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas senator Ted Cruz, and how he is riding his son’s coattails to further his own personal agenda.

This past week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz made national news in a speech to members of the Susan B. Anthony List in Washington, DC by claiming pro-choice activists were chanting “Hail Satan” during last year’s rallies in Austin, Texas against the state’s proposed controversial anti-choice bill. Knowing Cruz, this statement does not seem particularly newsworthy based on his history of pro-life rhetoric. However, what is newsworthy is what his father, Rafael Cruz, said this past Saturday when speaking to an audience in Longview, Texas. Cruz was discussing the drought in California when he said:

“There is more than one way to confiscate private property. Have any of you heard of Agenda 21? Agenda 21 is all about confiscation of private property. It’s all about the worship of Mother Earth. You know, in California they are trying to tear down all the dams to let the rivers flow freely. They’ve created a drought in southern California to save a little fish, a little minnow.”

For those of us that have followed Ted Cruz’s entrance into politics, we have been well aware of the influence of the father in his son’s life. Once Ted Cruz entered the national scene, questions began to make their way into his family background. His father, Rafael, has been no stranger to the limelight and has made a living off of making controversial statements, many of them rooted in paranoia. The Agenda 21 theory is one that frequently circulates throughout the worlds of Alex Jones and Glenn Beck and it claims that it is “the global scheme that has the potential to wipe out freedoms of all U.S. citizens” by having the United States government abolish all private property. One popular component of Agenda 21 is the belief that President Barack Obama will soon forcibly relocate all citizens from the suburbs to the cities.

Despite this dire warning, we have yet to see any forced migration in the five years of Barack Obama’s presidency and it doesn’t appear to be on his agenda for the spring term.

On the surface, we should simply dismiss Rafael Cruz for what he is: A delusional, southern evangelical who hates the fact that our president isn’t a white man. However, the problem becomes what to make of his son, one of the most powerful men in Washington, D.C. The old saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” So should we also assume that Senator Ted Cruz shares his father’s demented views of the world?

In a word: Yes.

In fact, when he was running as a candidate for the Senate, Cruz went on record discussing Agenda 21 by posting the following excerpt on his website:

In 1992, the United Nations adopted Agenda 21 to “achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy,” outlining a process to eliminate environmental decay and social injustice through micromanaging industries, communities, and culture. They will meet again next year to discuss its “progress” in over 100 nations. The originator of this grand scheme is George Soros, who candidly supports socialism and believes that global development must progress through eliminating national sovereignty and private property. He has given millions to this project. But he is not the only one promoting this plan; in fact, the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) now consists of over 600 cities in the United States. Agenda 21 attempts to abolish “unsustainable” environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. It hopes to leave mother earth’s surface unscratched by mankind. . . . Agenda 21 subverts liberty, our property rights, and our sovereignty.”

Like father, like son.

We here in America are used to hearing delusional, paranoid fantasies. From birthers to 9/11 truthers to moon landing deniers to golf course removal conspiracists, there never is a shortage of people in this country willing to claim there is some huge, ongoing government plot to take over the world or restrict our freedoms. It is in a country with free and open media that someone like an Alex Jones or a Glenn Beck can spout off absolute nonsense and not end up buried in a prison cell for life. The First Amendment guarantees them that right and it guarantees them the ability to manifest conspiracy theories and pass them off as truths to the public viewers. It is both the blessing and the curse of a country with open media access. For every instance of intrepid journalism, there exists an equal opportunity for an individual to take to the airwaves and play in to people’s deep-seated fears and paranoia to convince them that the government is secretly out to get them, all the while using these poor people to make a quick buck.

Yet, when this nonsense not only reaches, but actually influences a sitting member of the United States Senate, is where we run into problems. Ted Cruz has a large following of admirers who will stick with him through thick and thin. He knows this and fully takes advantage of it. It is how he admitted that the government shutdown was a way for him to fundraise and his constituents didn’t even blink an eye. Cruz plays off his constituents’ fears and uses conspiracy theories like Agenda 21 to convince them that the world is coming to an end and that he is their messiah. His own father echoes this sentiment as has called his son “The Anointed One.” What it all comes down to is the fact that America in 2014 has a prominent U.S. Senator who is attempting to convince his followers that they are right while everybody else is wrong.

In short, Ted Cruz is more than a U.S. Senator: He is the leader of a dangerous cult.