The ‘Values Voters’ Liked Ted Cruz Better When He Was Shutting Down the Government

How do you say winning? If you’re a conservative, you pick the driver of a very unpopular even, the government shutdown, as your next presidential pick because you enjoy losing badly.

First term Senator Ted Cruz Cruz won the first spot in the Values Voter Summit straw poll at 25%, with Dr. Ben Carson coming in next with just 5% difference at 20%. Former Governor Mike Huckabee came up third and Senator Rick Santorum won fourth place.

Last year, Cruz beat Carson by a much wider margin with 42% on the heels of shutting down the government.

Yes, shutting down the government is what the conservative base likes. They want senators who don’t do their jobs, but instead make things worse for the average American — anything to spite President Obama.

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Conservatives polled said the most important issue to them was “religious liberty”. This notion got Republicans very excited on Twitter, after they convinced themselves that they could win the White House on it because it’s HUGE. Everyone cares about “religious liberty”.

The problem for the Republican Party is that their definition of “religious liberty” is very exclusionary and thus the opposite of the idea of “religious liberty”. Republicans fight for liberty for Christians, while demonizing other religions, especially their misinformed ideas of Muslims.

Liberty sounds all exciting and Ted Cruz delivered a bit of a sermon at the Value Voters Summit, so it seems like a perfect match. But Cruz delivered more of a heady brew of persecution and delusion, culminating in him announcing that when Republicans take back the White House in 2017, they will repeal every word of Obamacare. “In 2017, with a Republican president in office, we’re going to sign legislation repealing every word of Obamacare.” Brace yourselves for the smarm, “Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.”

Oh yes, because “joy” is defined as not being able to afford healthcare insurance for your dying or sick family members. Oh, “JOY”. Meet “LIBERTY”!

This, of course, would fly in the face of Republicans’ current beliefs regarding what is an acceptable use of executive power, but also, no. They will never repeal every word of Obamacare because just like Social Security, people need it and want it. In two more years, it will be even more popular and Republicans will have to offer an alternative if they want to destroy it.

Ted Cruz said he had a plan, but in truth, Barack Obama used the conservative plan. Barack Obama used the market based plan based on competition between private companies that was the conservative approach to the healthcare problem. Republicans objected because they didn’t want a win for Obama, but now they are left fighting the battle of fools — fighting against their only idea, with no alternative. Joy sure will come in the morning.

Luckily for Republicans, their base is easily manipulated about what “issues” they are supposed to care about, hence they care most about something that is not an issue. Religious liberty? The biggest religion in this country is Christianity and it’s not being threatened. The President is a Christian. No one is coming for Christians, no matter how persecuted they like to pretend they are.

But hey, being persecuted pays well for Cruz, Palin, et al. The idea that they are being persecuted is romantic and it isolates the base — if everyone else is out to get you, they can’t be trusted. The only people the base can trust are the people they are sending their money to and voting for. Well played.

If Cruz wants the big love from the base, he’s going to need to make a big gesture of destroying the country in a way he can pretend is hurting Obama and not the people. Of course, none of this hurts Obama — it only hurts the very people voting for Cruz. JOY, I tell you. JOY and LIBERTY.