Cruz’s speeches are marked by what you might call pagan brutalism. There is not a hint of compassion, gentleness, and mercy. Instead, his speeches are by a long list of enemies, and vows to crush, shred, destroy, bomb them. When he is speaking in a church the contrast between the setting and the emotional tone he sets is jarring.
I’m normally not a fan of David Brooks, though I have to admit that when he manages to set aside what I to be find to a sometimes rather simplistic, doctrinaire Conservatism, he can have some interesting things to say. So it is with his observations concerning Ted Cruz, whom I’ve always felt to be a combination of the very worst qualities of Joseph McCarthy and the Pharisees (Apologies: Worst Band Name EVER…and I’m claiming it). Turns out I’m not the only one who see Cruz in part as pharisaical. Prone to seeing America through the prism of his ultraConservative, intolerant, and inflexible Seven Mountains Christian Dominionism theology, Cruz sees his homeland in crisis, facing what Brooks artfully describes as “a maximum existential threat.” He represents the worst of Christianity AND the worst of American politics, setting a truly ugly and hateful tone for a primary campaign certain to prominently feature all of what makes rational Americans despise politics and politicians.
Lacking a sense of authenticity and bereft of positive policies, Cruz adroitly defaults to demagoguery and demonization of America’s “enemies,” which a cursory examination will reveal to be anyone not White, Conservative, and Christian.
The fact is this apocalyptic diagnosis is ridiculous…. America is in better economic shape than any other major nation on Earth. Crime is own. Abortion rates are down. Fourteen million new jobs have been created in five years.
Obama has championed a liberal agenda, but he hasn’t made the country unrecognizable. In 2008, federal spending accounted for about 20.3 percent of gross domestic product. In 2015, it accounted for about 20.9 percent.
Cruz’ modus operandi allows for no recognition of anything remotely positive about the Obama presidency. There’s no room for compassion, understanding, or kindness. Everything is couched in the stark black and white terms of an existential menace that threatens to destroy America. He’s trying to convince America that he and his values are exactly what this country needs to arrest the descent into a hellscape of sin, decadence, and depravity.
Listen to Cruz at all, and what a listener quickly comes away with is his commitment to destruction. His agenda isn’t about how to make America better, about what can be done to improve on the things that make America the most powerful country in the world. No, it’s all about destruction: what and who he’d destroy in order to save America from itself and its irresponsible licentious excess and rejection of (his flavor of) God.
[T]he lack of any positive emphasis, and hint of reform conservatism, any aid for the working class, or even any human gesture toward cooperation is striking.
What Cruz does, on par with Donald Trump’s more secular militant malevolence, is exploit fear and ignorance. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision legalizing marriage equality, he’s stoked the fury of Conservative Evangelicals who (absent any rational justification) feel persecuted. He’s pounded home the conviction that not being able to force your religious beliefs on others is, in fact, the worst sort of Liberal, atheistic persecution and oppression ever visited upon American Christians. That this is as patently absurd as it is untrue matters not at all to those predisposed to clinging to Cruz’ vision as if they very lives depended on it.
Evangelicals and other conservatives have had their best influence on American politics when they have proceeded in a spirit of personalism- when they have answered hostility with service and emphasized the infinite dignity of each person. They have won elections as happy and hopeful warriors. Ted Cruz’s brutal, fear-driven, apocalypse-based approach is the antithesis of that.
I’d never argue that the truly, deeply religious have no place in politics- far from it. In many cases, I’d argue that those with deeply-held religious and spiritual values are EXACTLY the sorts of people who should be in public service. They understand that their faith teaches service and humility, acceptance and inclusion, compassion and tolerance. They know that if they’re to live a life truly reflective of the faith they profess, they must serve others selflessly and without expectation of a quid pro quo. They recognize that serving others isn’t really about others, though it can certainly benefit others; it’s about getting outside oneself and recognizing your role and place in the world.
I may disagree with David Brooks in some very fundamental, foundational ways…but it’s difficult to argue with his take on Ted Cruz’ self-serving hyper-religiosity. While Cruz is certainly free to believe as his conscience leads him, those who endeavor to lead truly Christ-like lives should be able to point out the hypocrisy, hatred, divisiveness, and truly anti-Christian aspects of his presidential campaign.
There’s another question best left for another time, though: Is Ted Cruz the face of modern Evangelical Christianity? Is he truly representative of a new strain of heartless, compassion-free theology/philosophy extant in the Evangelical community? (Feel free to discuss among yourselves after class.)
When you get right down to it, Ted Cruz’ quest for the Presidency is less about serving others and living the teachings of Jesus Christ than it is about serving his own boundless, unbridled political ambition. He’s not out to serve Americans, to help make America a better place; he’s all about power, ambition, and control.
[Not]Exactly what Jesus taught in the Gospel.
