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Ted Cruz, Leninist (That's a new tactic!)
The Atlantic ^ | September 27, 2013 | Jack M. Balkin

Posted on 09/27/2013 8:11:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Critics think the Tea Party senator is being self-defeating, but his antics make sense if he's actually trying to remake the Republican Party in his image.

What's Ted Cruz up to? Is he a political idiot or a political savant?

Many people have argued that his antics, however well designed to appeal to the Tea Party and the Republican-primary voting base, also seem equally well designed to anger his Republican colleagues in Congress, "establishment" Republicans, and organs of opinion like the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and, perhaps more important, big business and big-money donors whose support Cruz will need if he runs for president in 2016. And what he is doing won't stop Obamacare. So it seems like his strategy of alienating his colleagues in the Senate is doomed to failure and he is just being intransigent for the hell of it.

But let's suppose Cruz sees something (or is betting on something) that his opponents in the Republican Party don't see. Then his actions make a lot more sense. He is not a terrorist or a bomb thrower. He is a Leninist. He wants to sow discord among his erstwhile allies so that he can seize control.

Suppose you thought that the Republican coalition is fracturing, that traditional Republican leadership can no longer hold the party together, and that the leadership is too willing to capitulate to its political opponents on the left.

Suppose you are also convinced that Obamacare will be a total disaster. Once in place, constituencies will form that will make difficult to repeal, yet it will make most ordinary Americans deeply unhappy. Obamacare will be the big-government equivalent of crystal-meth: an addictive substance that destroys your health. When the public finally realizes, it will abandon the Democrats in droves and look for an alternative...

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 2016; cruz; obamacare; tedcruz
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1 posted on 09/27/2013 8:11:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Atlantic is as irrelevant as ever. The coffee table ornament for English professors.


2 posted on 09/27/2013 8:13:22 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The flak is thick enough to walk on.

Obviously, conservatives understand the wailing from the MSM. Cruz needs to be defended by conservatives in any and all venues. He is representing us like no other at this point in time, and if we don’t have his back, we are useless.

3 posted on 09/27/2013 8:16:42 PM PDT by Pox (Good Night. I expect more respect tomorrow.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

FUA


4 posted on 09/27/2013 8:18:55 PM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The fact the GOP is going after one of their own because he carries a message that reflects the sentiment of over 60% of the population has finally pushed me out of the GOP corner. I’m done.


5 posted on 09/27/2013 8:23:38 PM PDT by econjack (If you ask questions, you may look stupid. If you don't ask questions, you will STAY stupid.)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

The Atlantic is still in business? :-)


6 posted on 09/27/2013 8:23:52 PM PDT by writer33 (Mark Levin Is The Constitutional Engine Of Conservatism)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
There is no doubt that the GOP is in search of a leader.
There is no doubt that Cruz is a leader.
So where is the tie to Lenin in all of this?
7 posted on 09/27/2013 8:25:46 PM PDT by oldbrowser (We have a rogue government in Washington)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Then his actions make a lot more sense. He is not a terrorist or a bomb thrower. He is a Leninist. He wants to sow discord among his erstwhile allies so that he can seize control.

Lie-Beral Projection


8 posted on 09/27/2013 8:26:03 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: Pox

I am asking all to stand with Tea Party. They persecute us but we are here (in the millions). Do you have the guts to stand and save our country? Or are you just watching “ american Idle” and pulling for the faggots ans lesbian women? Get up and FIGHT! Your countr5y is going to shit.


9 posted on 09/27/2013 8:26:14 PM PDT by SADMILLIE (r)
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To: econjack

I might remind you that Cruz is a:
REPUBLICAN!


10 posted on 09/27/2013 8:27:20 PM PDT by Kansas58
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Good Lord, what a barfer of an article. And his historical allusion isn’t even correct..


11 posted on 09/27/2013 8:29:23 PM PDT by cardinal4 (Barack Barry Hussein Soetoro Obama, America's first woman president..)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
In some sense this is a repeat of the conservative movement's playbook from 1964 on: Push moderates out of the Republican Party and make it a wholly owned subsidiary of the conservative movement.

Is this guy for real? The GOP runs 'moderates' ... It's dems who traditionally run the most extreme liberal they can find... Obama's a perfect example. Obama is to the left of Putin.

Romney or McCain could easily fit into the Democrat party... Where does Atlantic find these folks? Have they ever met a conservative? Had a conversation with one?

12 posted on 09/27/2013 8:30:18 PM PDT by GOPJ ( Politicians who fear the people seek to disarm them. - - Bill St. Clair)
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To: econjack

The fact the GOP is going after one of their own because he carries a message that reflects the sentiment of over 60% of the population has finally pushed me out of the GOP corner. I’m done.


I quit donating when bush sided with Vicente fox. But the r still had my vote.

Not anymore. I’m done as well.

And when I’m done, so are at least 10 more, and the 10 they know. Believe it or not I’m the politico of the family, the go- to for how they should vote (my lovely, conservatively uninformed family, lol!)

In 2016 , I’ll expect nothing less than a Ted Cruz, or similar, nomination, no RINO will win or lose with my vote.


13 posted on 09/27/2013 8:32:04 PM PDT by KittenClaws ( You may have to fight a battle more than once in order to win it." - Margaret Thatcher)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So because he’s fighting the exact type of health care system, Lenin set out to implement by force, and is against forcing doctors to have their businesses being treated like the DMV, just as Lenin would have advocated, that makes him a modern day Lenin. Right, makes perfect sense /mega vomit tag.


14 posted on 09/27/2013 8:33:11 PM PDT by freedom462
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To: GOPJ

Jack M. Balkin is Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School, and the founder and director of Yale’s Information Society Project, an interdisciplinary center that studies law and new information technologies. More

Professor Balkin is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the author of over a hundred articles in different fields including constitutional theory, Internet law, freedom of speech, reproductive rights, legal philosophy, and social theory. He writes political and legal commentary at Balkinization. His books include Living Originalism; Constitutional Redemption; The Constitution in 2020 (with Reva Siegel); The State of Play: Law Games and Virtual Worlds (with Beth Noveck); Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment (with James Grimmelmann et al.); Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology; The Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life; What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said; and What Roe v. Wade Should Have Said.


15 posted on 09/27/2013 8:35:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can't invade the mainland US There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: oldbrowser
So where is the tie to Lenin in all of this?

Though the author never gets around to saying it, he is correlating the battle between the RINO establishment and the conservative base to the Menshevik-Bolshevik struggle within the Soviet Communist party -- whence Lenin's minority overcame the majority and seized power.

16 posted on 09/27/2013 8:37:30 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: econjack; texas booster; B4Ranch; All

The old GOP died when Romney lost in 2012.

We are just now finally casting off the dead weight of the old GOP.

Their lingering stench was decreased a lot this week by nice cool breezes coming out of TEXAS and Utah.


17 posted on 09/27/2013 8:40:15 PM PDT by Graewoulf (Traitor John Roberts' Commune-Style Obama'care' violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: GOPJ
Romney or McCain could easily fit into the Democrat party...

Interesting to consider. Do you think the Democrats would want McCain, should he offer to cross the aisle?

Romney, they'd take, of course -- because of his money.

But McCain...???

18 posted on 09/27/2013 8:42:10 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

someone tell the writer that analogies MUST be appropriate in all regards in order to.....work

Lenin?? not so much


19 posted on 09/27/2013 8:47:38 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( Un-Documented Journalist / Block Captain..Tyranny Response Team)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Don't care for his lack of insight into conservatives but I read your comments 2nd and ordered his I Ching book from Amazon...

The Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life... From the Amazon site:

"Balkin, a Yale law professor, offers an engaging translation and interpretation of this Chinese classic. Based on a system of 64 hexagrams and their associated oracular statements, the I Ching began as a Bronze Age divination manual for rulers seeking advice on upcoming battles, marriage plans and human sacrifices, among other things. While it continues to be a popular medium for fortune-telling, centuries of scholarly commentary have made it a centerpiece of Confucian and Taoist philosophy. In addition to the text of the I Ching, Balkin provides a fascinating history of the work along with a lucid introduction to Chinese philosophy. But he is most interested in the I Ching as a system of practical wisdom applicable to everyday problems. By "enticing us to make sense of" its "vague and cryptic" language, he argues, it "induces us to abandon logical and linear thinking" and stimulates intuition and inspiration. Balkin includes detailed commentaries that help make sense of the book's pronouncements, which are sometimes self-evident ("Perseverance brings good fortune") but more often based on oblique metaphors ("Cart and axle separate / Husband and wife roll their eyes at each other" warns of "accidents" leading to "loss of dignity," while "He bites through the tender meat,/ So that his nose disappears / No blame" means that clearly beneficial reforms should be pursued energetically). Regardless of its prognosticatory powers, the I Ching's evocative imagery makes it a great work of literature, now more accessible than ever thanks to Balkin. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title."

20 posted on 09/27/2013 8:48:23 PM PDT by GOPJ ( Politicians who fear the people seek to disarm them. - - Bill St. Clair)
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