I heard Rush use the term “ideological conservative.”
What in the heck other kind of conservative is there? Conservatism is an ideology.
That’s like saying you’re a non-religious Christian. Arguably you could say there are people raised in Christian families who become non-religious who that phrase might apply to. But conservatism doesn’t define that way. You can’t be raised as a conservative (what few people are) and then disbelieve the ideology and still be considered a conservative. That’d be like saying Ron Reagan is a non-ideological conservative.
I was subscribed to National Review at age 11. I've long held the belief that (to paraphrase Josef Stalin) you may not be interested in politics, but politics are interested in you. I signed up on FR the day I discovered it in 1999, and have been a talk radio junkie for years, but as politically engaged as I like to see myself, I've never lost sight of the fact that there are many, many people out there who have no interest in politics whatsoever. They have their personal ideologies, which may lean more to one side of the political spectrum or the other, but they do not consider themselves political or ideological in any real way. Many of them, especially if religious, have robust worldviews and philosophies, but either never had an interest in politics, or perhaps once did, but have grown so jaded and cynical that they don't follow closely. Others may hop on a bandwagon and/or just follow family traditions. I know many people who will unhesitatingly vote for the pro-2nd Amendment candidate, just because they like owning firearms, but would have a very difficult time articulating the philosophical underpinnings of the RKBA. They just like to hunt.
The problem is that Cruz is a terrible candidate!