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View Full Version : Ted Cruz lays out indictment of Obama encroachment on Texas’ rights




Brett85
02-04-2014, 10:58 PM
Sen. Ted Cruz’s disdain for President Obama’s policies is no less ardent than his advocacy of the 10th Amendment – the one protecting states’ rights.

On Tuesday morning, he released a six-page report on “The Obama Administration’s Assault on Texas,” highlighting some of the legal friction points between the state and federal governments and warning that Obama has sought to expand federal power at the expense of states, especially Texas.

This isn’t a scholarly legal analysis, though Cruz – a former law clerk to a chief justice of the United States – is certainly capable of that. Rather it’s more of a political indictment and set of talking points for anyone primed to be riled at Washington overreach, as Cruz fans tend to be.

It decries the “expansive view of federal power in litigation against the State of Texas,” focusing on 10 cases that “show a consistent pattern of an Administration bent on displacing State sovereignty.”

Among the outrages Cruz highlights was the attempt to force states to expand Medicaid under Obamacare; the Supreme Court tossed out that element of the health care law 7-2.

Cruz also cites the Justice Department’s “unconstitutional preclearance of Texas’s redistricting plans.” That requires something of a chronological leap of faith, in that the Justice Department had been challenging election changes in Texas and eight other states for decades under the authority of the Voting Rights Act. That didn’t change until last June, when the Supreme Court tossed out a key part of the law — the formula that singled out states deserving of extra scrutiny based on a history of systematic bias.

Four of the 10 cases Cruz cites involve the EPA.

(Coincidentally or not, the House Science Committee, chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, has called a hearing Wednesday focused entirely on Texas’ ongoing battles with EPA. The hearing is titled “Examining the Science of EPA Overreach: A Case Study in Texas.”)

For instance, Cruz points to a simmering fight over EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, on the grounds that such emissions contribute to climate change. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Feb. 24. Texas and 15 other states challenged the EPA’s actions.

There’s a dispute involving a federal agency’s effort to order daily Internet posts about pipeline activities that don’t cross the state line; another involving a Commerce Department effort to impose new rules on red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico; and another involving an Interior Department moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf after the massive BP oil spill.

One of the better known battles Cruz cites involved a fight over $830 million in federal education funding. Congress had adopted an amendment authored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, to prevent Gov. Rick Perry from using federal stimulus money to replace — rather than to supplement — state spending on schools. Cruz asserts that the U.S. Department of Education “illegally” withheld the $830 million, though it was following a clear – if disputed – congressional mandate.

Texas dropped a lawsuit against DOE when Congress repealed the Doggett Amendment in April 2011, after Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 elections.

“These ten cases will not be the final chapter in the Obama Administration’s assault on Texas…. Unfortunately Texas must constantly defend itself against President Obama’s expansive view of federal power, and I applaud Texas’s legal challenges under the leadership of Attorney General [Greg] Abbott against this Administration’s assault on State sovereignty. I hope others will follow his lead.”


http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/ted-cruz-lays-out-indictment-of-obama-encroachment-on-texas-rights.html/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Occam's Banana
02-05-2014, 05:15 AM
One of the better known battles Cruz cites involved a fight over $830 million in federal education funding. Congress had adopted an amendment authored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, to prevent Gov. Rick Perry from using federal stimulus money to replace — rather than to supplement — state spending on schools. Cruz asserts that the U.S. Department of Education “illegally” withheld the $830 million, though it was following a clear – if disputed – congressional mandate.

I find it difficult to take seriously someone who criticizes federal encroachments on States' Rights by complaining (in part) that the Feds won't let a state suck at the federal teat in whatever way it pleases. Cruz is not stupid, so this suggests to me that he is grandstanding. If he were really serious about the issue, he'd be more concerned with making Texas less dependent on federal largesse - rather than with grousing about the Feds not "showing them the money." And as a purely practical matter, if Cruz actually thinks that the Feds are going to just give Texas (or any other state) $830 million without asserting authority over how it is spent (or attaching other sovereignty-overriding strings to it), then he is a fool - no matter how much of a "legal scholar" he might be.

After all, he who pays the piper calls the tune ...

Occam's Banana
02-05-2014, 05:47 AM
From the OP:

Sen. Ted Cruz’s disdain for President Obama’s policies is no less ardent than his advocacy of the 10th Amendment – the one protecting states’ rights.

How is Cruz's allegedly "ardent" advocacy of the Tenth Amendment to be reconciled with his desire for the uncompromising enforcement of the federal marijuana ban - even in states that have effectively nullified that ban? I assert that these things cannot be reconciled - and that Cruz is being an opportunistic hypocrite.

[See this thread for context: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?440739-Ted-Cruz-criticizes-Obama-for-not-jailing-cannabis-users-in-Colorado]

The considerations mentioned in my previous post combined with Cruz's recent complaints that federal drug laws are not being enforced with sufficient rigor to suit him - even (or especially) in states such as Colorado that have explicitly nullified the federal marijuana ban - have persuaded me that Ted Cruz is a paper tiger on States' Rights & Tenth Amendment issues. He is quite simply talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Criticism of the Obama administration is the only consistent theme I am able to detect in Cruz's complaints (in both the OP of this thread and the OP of the thread referenced for context above). Hence, the quesiton arises: would Cruz be voicing the same complaints were a Republican in the White House? I rather suspect not.

He is merely trying to throw red meat to the anti-Obama crowd - but NOT the anti-Fedcoats crowd (though he tries to make it sound that way by dressing things up in States' Rights, Tenth Amendment and "rule of law" rhetoric).

belian78
02-05-2014, 08:02 AM
Watch it OB, TC/Petar/compromise and their little gang is gonna be all over you like white on rice. Oh crap, that was racist. Me and Seinfeld will have to go get ice cream I guess, neapolitan of course. LoL

Brett85
02-05-2014, 08:14 AM
Watch it OB, TC/Petar/compromise and their little gang is gonna be all over you like white on rice. Oh crap, that was racist. Me and Seinfeld will have to go get ice cream I guess, neapolitan of course. LoL

No, you just have absolutely no clue at all what you're talking about. I posted this to illustrate that Ted Cruz is hypocritical when it comes to the 10th amendment, since he claims to want to uphold the 10th amendment, while also complaining that President Obama isn't enforcing federal drug laws and isn't arresting marijuana users in Colorado and Washington.

I just didn't mention that in my original post, because I wanted to allow other people to connect the dots and point that out.

Occam's Banana
02-05-2014, 08:33 AM
Watch it OB, TC/Petar/compromise and their little gang is gonna be all over you like white on rice. Oh crap, that was racist. Me and Seinfeld will have to go get ice cream I guess, neapolitan of course. LoL

Actually, TC has been a consistent critic of Cruz on this issue - as well as on the issues of sanctions & interventionism.

enhanced_deficit
02-05-2014, 08:52 AM
Not a fan of his foreign policy but domestically Rafael Ted Cruz remains one of the most fierce and eloquent defenders of rights/civil liberties/NSA of all the christian zionists in America today.. with the exception of John Hagee perhaps.

belian78
02-05-2014, 10:20 AM
No, you just have absolutely no clue at all what you're talking about. I posted this to illustrate that Ted Cruz is hypocritical when it comes to the 10th amendment, since he claims to want to uphold the 10th amendment, while also complaining that President Obama isn't enforcing federal drug laws and isn't arresting marijuana users in Colorado and Washington.

I just didn't mention that in my original post, because I wanted to allow other people to connect the dots and point that out.
I'm mistaken then and I apologize.

rpfocus
02-05-2014, 10:54 AM
Not a fan of his foreign policy but domestically Rafael Ted Cruz remains one of the most fierce and eloquent defenders of rights/civil liberties/NSA of all the christian zionists in America today.. with the exception of John Hagee perhaps.

Uh oh, you mentioned Rafael's actual first name. Get ready to be called a bigot.

Brett85
02-05-2014, 11:21 AM
I'm mistaken then and I apologize.

All right, no problem.

twomp
02-05-2014, 12:10 PM
This is the guy that several "conservative" media outlets chose as their 2013 "man of the year." The fix is in and before we know it, we will see Ted Cruz defined as the "anti-establishment" candidate for 2016. Ted Cruz, the GOP's version of Obama.

enhanced_deficit
02-05-2014, 12:16 PM
Uh oh, you mentioned Rafael's actual first name. Get ready to be called a bigot.

In my defense, I have accidentally called him facist too (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?443209-Ron-Paul-quot-only-quot-has-a-96-lifetime-Freedom-Index-ranking&p=5404251&viewfull=1#post5404251) before.

Peace&Freedom
02-05-2014, 12:35 PM
Criticism of the Obama administration is the only consistent theme I am able to detect in Cruz's complaints (in both the OP of this thread and the OP of the thread referenced for context above). Hence, the quesiton arises: would Cruz be voicing the same complaints were a Republican in the White House? I rather suspect not.

He is merely trying to throw red meat to the anti-Obama crowd - but NOT the anti-Fedcoats crowd (though he tries to make it sound that way by dressing things up in States' Rights, Tenth Amendment and "rule of law" rhetoric).

Yes, Cruz fosters up red meat, Tea Party fury, only to pour it right back into the two party paradigm. And his inflammatory style is the direct opposite of Rand's tactic of expressing a tea-party/liberty view in a semi-muted way that "de-energizes" the opposition. In politics, the point behind sounding 'vague' (or at worst, two-faced) is to avoid inflaming the opposition, while encouraging your supporters with enough soft code words that they remain energized.

Cruz seems determined to get the WRONG side riled up, and mobilized to stop his presidential candidacy if he runs. He is either 1) acting as the radical end of a triangulation operation to draw out a radical response from the left, to make Rand or Bush/Christie look more 'statesmanlike' and responsible, or 2) he is acting as a inside saboteur of the TP, successfully energizing opponents to defeat him, so the TP and liberty movement approach can then be said to have been tried and failed.

Christian Liberty
02-05-2014, 12:55 PM
Watch it OB, TC/Petar/compromise and their little gang is gonna be all over you like white on rice. Oh crap, that was racist. Me and Seinfeld will have to go get ice cream I guess, neapolitan of course. LoL


Actually, TC has been a consistent critic of Cruz on this issue - as well as on the issues of sanctions & interventionism.

Yes. TC may be more moderate than I or some other might prefer, but he is consistent. He's not an opportunist. I still think he should run for congress, as he'd actually be electable, unlike me;)


Yes, Cruz fosters up red meat, Tea Party fury, only to pour it right back into the two party paradigm. And his inflammatory style is the direct opposite of Rand's tactic of expressing a tea-party/liberty view in a semi-muted way that "de-energizes" the opposition. In politics, the point behind sounding 'vague' (or at worst, two-faced) is to avoid inflaming the opposition, while encouraging your supporters with enough soft code words that they remain energized.

Cruz seems determined to get the WRONG side riled up, and mobilized to stop his presidential candidacy if he runs. He is either 1) acting as the radical end of a triangulation operation to draw out a radical response from the left, to make Rand or Bush/Christie look more 'statesmanlike' and responsible, or 2) he is acting as a inside saboteur of the TP, successfully energizing opponents to defeat him, so the TP and liberty movement approach can then be said to have been tried and failed.

I think he's the conservative fall back option if the Republicans do not accept the establishment. TPTB does not want Rand Paul in office.

DFF
02-05-2014, 01:39 PM
What's Cruz's stance on the fact that Texas is essentially a slave state given the number of prisoners incarcerated and people on probation who have to pay back-breaking fines and fees?

compromise
02-05-2014, 02:16 PM
Cruz is not going to run for President in 2016.

Brett85
02-05-2014, 03:39 PM
The ironic thing is that Rick Perry is actually more libertarian than Cruz, at least when it comes to the war on drugs. He's been very clear that the states have the right to legalize marijuana under the 10th amendment.

Brett85
02-05-2014, 03:42 PM
Yes. TC may be more moderate than I or some other might prefer, but he is consistent. He's not an opportunist. I still think he should run for congress, as he'd actually be electable, unlike me;)

I think you underestimate how much more "radical" we are than the average American. Even with my views, I'd still get labeled as some "extreme, pacifist anarchist" if I ever ran for Congress. :)

rpfocus
02-05-2014, 03:50 PM
Cruz is not going to run for President in 2016.

You state this as fact, but I can't find anything to back this up. Do you have a source for that?

compromise
02-06-2014, 10:31 AM
You state this as fact, but I can't find anything to back this up. Do you have a source for that?

His father said he would not run for President.