In his 1944 opus “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” the philosopher Johnny Mercer provided some bracing of imperatives that, rightly understood, explain why I am supporting Ted Cruz for the Presidency of the United States.
“You’ve got to accentuate the positive,” Mercer argued.
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.
Quite right. These imperatives, while not quite categorical, are sufficiently compelling to command our attention. Ted Cruz is the only candidate who accentuates the positive, who latches on the the affirmative.
1. Executive power….
Ted Cruz is the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, who understands and is prepared to address the twin dangers of executive overreach and the stealth statism of regulatory bloat.
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2. National Security. Ted Cruz would reverse the policy of spineless accommodation underwritten by a globalist suspicion of US power that has characterized the Obama administration from the president’s grand “apology tour” in the opening weeks of his administration to the appalling side “deal” he recently made with Iran, funneling billions upon billions of dollars to a regime whose central ambition, apart from the enabling contingency of acquiring nuclear weapons, is the destruction of Israel.
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3. Economic policy. It is no secret that the US economic is stagnant. Growth is the fuel that powers prosperity, but growth on Obama’s watch has been anemic at best. Ted Cruz understands that unfettered capitalism is the most powerful engine for the production of wealth that the world has ever seen. He has set forth in meticulous detail a freedom agenda that would lower taxes and streamline government and its regulatory militia, beginning with the Internal Revenue Service, which he promises to abolish……
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The bottom line is this: Ted Cruz stands head and shoulders above anyone else as an affirmative candidate. He accentuates the positive, as Johnny Mercer so eloquently enjoined us to do, and latches on to the affirmative. That’s the task that Ted Cruz set himself. It is up to us, the voters, to eliminate the negative and say goodbye to Mister In-Between.
PJ Media does not endorse candidates, but its columnists are free to do. It is my honor to take this occasion on the veritable eve of the New York Primary to endorse Ted Cruz for President. He is an honorable man who has a deep and pragmatic understanding of how the American system of government actually works. More important, he understands the American soul. His critics complain that he does not get on with his Senate colleagues, many of whom, they point out, dislike him. But they dislike him precisely because since assuming office in 2012 he has battled to serve the people, not the Washington establishment. The 19th-century man-of-letters William Dean Howells once pointed out that for a critic, the problem is not making enemies but keeping them. The same should be true of politicians, for whom universal assent usually betokens universal corruption.
Often in politics one finds oneself rooting for the lesser of two evils, a compromise candidate. But in the case of Ted Cruz, we have a candidate who is more energizing and affirmative than anyone since Ronald Reagan. America faces a myriad of problems, foreign and domestic. But America is also blessed with extraordinary resources, from our political institutions to our material assets and geographically protected situation. As Ronald Reagan demonstrated, a forceful and enlightened leader can accomplish extraordinary things in America. Ted Cruz is just such a leader. I do not know what Ted Cruz’s favorite verse from the Bible is. But I am morally certain it is not “An eye for an eye.” More likely, I’d wager, it is something like “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” I hope you’ll bypass the cliches that have accumulated like barnacles upon the reputation of Ted Cruz and see for yourself what he stands for. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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Powerful endorsement of @TedCruz by @NewCriterion editor @RogerKimball. Read it here —> https://t.co/VGfzElud8T #CruzCrew
— Ron Nehring (@RonNehring) April 17, 2016
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