Ted Cruz: The Four-Part Series

January 31, 2016

Writer

In a four-part series for radio, Glenn tells the life story of presidential candidate Ted Cruz --- from his early upbringing by immigrant parents to his courageous leadership today. Known for tenaciously standing up to establishment power brokers in Washington --- on both sides --- and the media, Cruz has done so with both honor and class. Ted Cruz is, in Glenn's words, the George Washington we've been praying for, born at this time for a reason --- to become president of the United States.

The four-part series is compiled below for your convenience.

Part I: The Early Years

Raised by an American mother and a Cuban immigrant father, Cruz was taught to love the United States and revere the Constitution. From an early age, he learned important lessons from both of his parents, including discipline and hard work. His father --- Rafael Cruz --- fought in the Cuban revolution, and was imprisoned and tortured. After fleeing to Texas in 1957, penniless and not speaking a word of English, Rafael washed dishes for 50 cents an hour to pay his way through the University of Texas.

When Ted was eight years old, he went to a summer camp and accepted Christ in his life. Early on, it became apparent that Ted was more than average. He was brilliant --- and destined for something big.

When he was 15, Ted Cruz was one of five Houston kids selected by the Free Enterprise Institute to tour the country and speak about the Constitution. Prior to graduating high school, Ted had delivered 80 speeches on such topics as economics, the Austrian economist von Mises, and the importance and meaning of the Constitution.

Ted's decision to attend an Ivy League school was not received well by his parents. They were struggling financially. To make his dream a reality, it would mean scholarships, students loans and working two jobs. Additionally, his father was concern the liberal environment would tarnish his son's beliefs.

"Ted, you're growing into a good, strong man," Cruz's father said to him. "Are you going to be strong enough to go to an Ivy League school and hold on to your principles and values?"

Ted assured him he could and was accepted into Princeton University. He later attended Harvard Law School.

Subsequent years at Princeton University and Harvard Law School would uniquely prepare Ted to be leader of the free world. They would also put him on a collision course with some of the most powerful people in the world --- including the president of the United States.

Part II: The College Years

As his high school's valedictorian, Ted had the opportunity to visit several campuses while scouting out colleges. He dreamed of attending an Ivy League school and visited esteemed campuses like Harvard, MIT and Dartmouth. He realized his dream when he was accepted to Princeton University.

Paying for an Ivy League education wasn't easy, though. His family was struggling financially so it required earning scholarships, taking out student loans and working two jobs --- no government bailouts for this constitutional conservative.

During his freshman year, Ted realized that being a principled conservative in a liberal environment would be challenging. He was paired with a New Jersey liberal as his roommate. Needless to say, they didn't exactly hit it off. (In fact, that roommate is conducting a Twitter jihad against Ted this very day.)

Being a super smart geek, Ted naturally joined the Princeton debate team. He became a champion debater, winning multiple categories, including 1992 Team of the Year and 1992 Speaker of the Year. He additionally won significant national debates earning awards for the 1992 National Championship for Top Speaker and the North American Debating Championship Top Speaker. Today, he is forever enshrined in the Princeton debate hall of fame.

Ted continued his debating record at Harvard Law School where he became a world debating championship semifinalist.

While at Harvard, Ted served as the primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, the executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and the founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review. He graduated magnum cum laude from Harvard Law School.

One of Ted's law professors --- liberal lion lawyer Alan Dershowitz --- said this of his student:

"One of the sharpest students I had, in terms of analytic skills. I've had 10,000 students over my 50 years at Harvard. He has to qualify among the brightest of the students. Deeply principled. He thinks he's doing the right thing. I saw that years ago when he was a student. He was not a compromiser. He was not somebody who tried to make friends by accepting what was then the political correctness of the day."

Upon graduating from Harvard Law School, Ted landed a job as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice law clerk in U.S. history, clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He later went into private practice defending his first love --- the United States Constitution.

Working on matters relating to the Second Amendment and the NRA, Ted helped prepare testimony for the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. When he was 28, Cruz joined the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser, advising then governor George W. Bush in a wide range of policy and legal matters, including civil justice, criminal justice, constitutional law, immigration and government reform.

During the 2000 election, in the case of Bush vs. Gore, Cruz was sent to Florida to sort out the legal mess created by the dangling chad situation. Cruz assisted in assembling the Bush legal team, devising strategy and drafting pleadings for filings with the Supreme Court of Florida and the U.S. Supreme Court. He helped lead the way to two big wins, clearing the way for Bush to become president.

He was still barely 30 years old.

Part III: The Supreme Court Years

At age 33, Ted Cruz became the youngest solicitor general of Texas in American history. He would go on to become the longest serving solicitor general, ferociously fighting for the Constitution. He sought out conservative, constitutional causes, distinguishing himself with exceptional achievements and victories:

• Cruz authored 70 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court --- more than any practicing lawyer in all of Texas or any current member of Congress. He took on some of the biggest cases decided by the courts in decades --- and won virtually every single time.

• Cruz won a huge Second Amendment victory in the District of Columbia versus Heller, drafting the amicus brief signed by the attorneys general of 31 different states and presenting the oral argument. This victory struck down a D.C. handgun ban as infringing upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms --- and it changed everything regarding your right to carry a gun.

• Cruz wrote a brief on behalf all 50 states in the Elk Grove Unified School District versus Newdow case, in which atheist activist Michael Newdow sued on behalf of his daughter to stop schools from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. He objected to the phrase, "One Nation Under God." For months, the pledge was not spoken in nine western states --- until Cruz argued the case. The Supreme Court upheld Cruz's belief that Newdow had no standing to file suit on behalf of his daughter.

• Cruz successfully defended the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments Monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds before the Fifth Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, the Ten Commandments Monument currently stands on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol.

• Cruz fought on behalf of the state of Texas to uphold the death penalty sentence for a vicious gang member who was in the United States illegally when he and other gang members brutally beat, raped, tortured and killed two teenage girls in Houston. The Mexican Consulate became involved, as well as then President George W. Bush, who sided with the Mexican government and turned the case over to the International Court of Justice which ruled against Texas and stayed the execution. Texas then turned to Solicitor General Ted Cruz. Appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, Cruz successfully defended the Constitution. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that decisions from the International Court of Justice were not binding in any domestic law and even the president had no power to enforce them. Ted Cruz won and gang member Jose Medellin met his maker.

Ted Cruz has a proven record of fighting for and defending the United States Constitution --- even when it means going against the establishment. In the case of Medellin versus Texas, not only did he go against a brutal, illegal alien murderer, the country of Mexico, the Geneva Convention, the International Court of Justice --- but also his former boss and the president of the United States, George W. Bush. This may provide insight into why George W. Bush broke his long-standing policy not to comment on politics to say recently about Cruz, "I just don't like the guy." Being embarrassed and beaten on the international stage isn't generally followed by afternoon tea.

There's a reason why the Republican establishment in D.C. is known for not liking Cruz. They stand for the party, for themselves and for their own political power. Ted Cruz doesn't play party politics or political games. Ted Cruz stands for principles, values, integrity and the United States Constitution.

What does your candidate stand for?

Part IV: The Candidate

Ted Cruz is the real deal. He is a true conservative to the marrow of his bones. Not the kind of "conservative" you find in Washington, D.C., the kind that has betrayed us for decades --- but a true constitutional conservative as the Founders intended. The Constitution isn’t just an afterthought to Ted Cruz. He memorized this sacred document when he was 13 years old, and those words are ingrained in the very fabric of his being.

How does a man come to live and breath the Constitution? It's simple, really --- he was raised that way. Raised by a man who lost his freedom in Castro's Cuba and fled to the United States in search of freedom. Raised by a man who taught him to revere God and the Constitution of the United States. Raised by a man who lost his way because of alcoholism and atheism, but found his way back by the grace of God.

Ted Cruz was raised with the Bible and the Constitution on his kitchen table every single day of his life.

As valedictorian, magnum cum laude graduate, Ivy League scholar, debating champion, Supreme Court law clerk, defender of our constitutional rights and U.S. senator, Ted Cruz has held firm to conservative beliefs and values. He is a dedicated husband, loving father and committed Christian. He is a constitutionalist. But, most of all, he is consistent, with a proven track record and history.

For Cruz, it may be true that he has very few friends in Washington, D.C., but he should wear that as a badge of honor.

Constitutional principles have always come first for Ted --- even ahead of party loyalty. Like when he filibustered Obamacare for 21 hours --- alone --- trying to stop the unconstitutional takeover of America’s healthcare system. He knew his own party would come after him, but he had promised the American people to hold firm in his beliefs. So he did.

Ted understands the gravity of our situation, and he understands how to right the wrongs of the past eight years by holding true to the principles of the U.S. Constitution. It's all there, written long ago by the brilliant men who fought the fierce battle for freedom and liberty. We don't need a bailout, we don't need any new government programs. We need to return to the First Principles laid out for us by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.

Ted Cruz is the George Washington we've prayed for. He's here --- the man who understands that government is not the solution but the problem. Ted Cruz understands that the restraints placed on the government by the Constitution are a good thing. Because absolute power corrupts absolutely. We've had enough of that corruption far too long.

It's time to send a man of honor and character to the White House, a man who says what he means and means what he says. It's time to send a man that will proudly place his hand upon the Bible and solemnly swear to faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and to the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

That man is Ted Cruz, and his time is now.

Featured Image: Senator Ted Cruz

How private stewardship could REVIVE America’s wild

Jonathan Newton / Contributor | Getty Images

The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

EXPOSED: Why the left’s trans agenda just CRASHED at SCOTUS

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

You never know what you’re going to get with the U.S. Supreme Court these days.

For all of the Left’s insane panic over having six supposedly conservative justices on the court, the decisions have been much more of a mixed bag. But thank God – sincerely – there was a seismic win for common sense at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It’s a win for American children, parents, and for truth itself.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s state ban on irreversible transgender procedures for minors.

The mostly conservative justices stood tall in this case, while Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson predictably dissented. This isn’t just Tennessee’s victory – 20 other red states that have similar bans can now breathe easier, knowing they can protect vulnerable children from these sick, experimental, life-altering procedures.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. It’s rooted in a very simple truth that common sense Americans get: kids cannot consent to permanent damage. The science backs this up – Norway, Finland, and the UK have all sounded alarms about the lack of evidence for so-called “gender-affirming care.” The Trump administration’s recent HHS report shredded the activist claims that these treatments help kids’ mental health. Nothing about this is “healthcare.” It is absolute harm.

The Left, the ACLU, and the Biden DOJ screamed “discrimination” and tried to twist the Constitution to force this radical ideology on our kids.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court saw through it this time. In her concurring opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett nailed it: gender identity is not some fixed, immutable trait like race or sex. Detransitioners are speaking out, regretting the surgeries and hormones they were rushed into as teens. WPATH – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the supposed experts on this, knew that kids cannot fully grasp this decision, and their own leaked documents prove that they knew it. But they pushed operations and treatments on kids anyway.

This decision is about protecting the innocent from a dangerous ideology that denies biology and reality. Tennessee’s Attorney General calls this a “landmark victory in defense of America’s children.” He’s right. This time at least, the Supreme Court refused to let judicial activism steal our kids’ futures. Now every state needs to follow Tennessee’s lead on this, and maybe the tide will continue to turn.

Insider alert: Glenn’s audience EXPOSES the riots’ dark truth

Barbara Davidson / Contributor | Getty Images

Glenn asked for YOUR take on the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots, and YOU responded with a thunderous verdict. Your answers to our recent Glennbeck.com poll cut through the establishment’s haze, revealing a profound skepticism of their narrative.

The results are undeniable: 98% of you believe taxpayer-funded NGOs are bankrolling these riots, a bold rejection of the claim that these are grassroots protests. Meanwhile, 99% dismiss the mainstream media’s coverage as woefully inadequate—can the official story survive such resounding doubt? And 99% of you view the involvement of socialist and Islamist groups as a growing threat to national security, signaling alarm at what Glenn calls a coordinated “Color Revolution” lurking beneath the surface.

You also stand firmly with decisive action: 99% support President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell the chaos. These numbers defy the elite’s tired excuses and reflect a demand for truth and accountability. Are your tax dollars being weaponized to destabilize America? You’ve answered with conviction.

Your voice sends a powerful message to those who dismiss the unrest as mere “protests.” You spoke, and Glenn listened. Keep shaping the conversation at Glennbeck.com.

Want to make your voice heard? Check out more polls HERE.

EXPOSED: Your tax dollars FUND Marxist riots in LA

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

Protesters wore Che shirts, waved foreign flags, and chanted Marxist slogans — but corporate media still peddles the ‘spontaneous outrage’ narrative.

I sat in front of the television this weekend, watching the glittering spectacle of corporate media do what it does best: tell me not to believe my lying eyes.

According to the polished news anchors, what I was witnessing in Los Angeles was “mostly peaceful protests.” They said it with all the earnest gravitas of someone reading a bedtime story, while behind them the streets looked like a deleted scene from “Mad Max.” Federal agents dodged concrete slabs as if it were an Olympic sport. A man in a Che Guevara crop top tried to set a police car on fire. Dumpster fires lit the night sky like some sort of postapocalyptic luau.

If you suggest that violent criminals should be deported or imprisoned, you’re painted as the extremist.

But sure, it was peaceful. Tear gas clouds and Molotov cocktails are apparently the incense and candles of this new civic religion.

The media expects us to play along — to nod solemnly while cities burn and to call it “activism.”

Let’s call this what it is: delusion.

Another ‘peaceful’ riot

If the Titanic “mostly floated” and the Hindenburg “mostly flew,” then yes, the latest L.A. riots are “mostly peaceful.” But history tends to care about those tiny details at the end — like icebergs and explosions.

The coverage was full of phrases like “spontaneous,” “grassroots,” and “organic,” as if these protests materialized from thin air. But many of the signs and banners looked like they’d been run off at ComradesKinkos.com — crisp print jobs with slogans promoting socialism, communism, and various anti-American regimes. Palestinian flags waved beside banners from Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and El Salvador. It was like someone looted a United Nations souvenir shop and turned it into a revolution starter pack.

And guess who funded it? You did.

According to at least one report, much of this so-called spontaneous rage fest was paid for with your tax dollars. Tens of millions of dollars from the Biden administration ensured your paycheck funded Trotsky cosplayers chucking firebombs at local coffee shops.

The same aging radicals from the 1970s — now armed with tenure, pensions, and book deals — are cheering from the sidelines, waxing poetic about how burning a squad car is “liberation.” These are the same folks who once wore tie-dye and flew to help guerrilla fighters and now applaud chaos under the banner of “progress.”

This is not progress. It is not protest. It’s certainly not justice or peace.

It’s an attempt to dismantle the American system — and if you dare say that out loud, you’re labeled a bigot, a fascist, or, worst of all, someone who notices reality.

And what sparked this taxpayer-funded riot? Enforcement against illegal immigrants — many of whom, according to official arrest records, are repeat violent offenders. These are not the “dreamers” or the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. These are criminals with long, violent rap sheets — allowed to remain free by a broken system that prioritizes ideology over public safety.

Photo by Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg | Getty Images

This is what people are rioting over — not the mistreatment of the innocent, but the arrest of the guilty. And in California, that’s apparently a cause for outrage.

The average American, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, is supposed to worry they’ll be next. But unless you’re in the habit of assaulting people, smuggling, or firing guns into people’s homes, you probably don’t have much to fear.

Still, if you suggest that violent criminals should be deported or imprisoned, you’re painted as the extremist.

The left has lost it

This is what happens when a culture loses its grip on reality. We begin to call arson “art,” lawlessness “liberation,” and criminals “community members.” We burn the good and excuse the evil — all while the media insists it’s just “vibes.”

But it’s not just vibes. It’s violence, paid for by you, endorsed by your elected officials, and whitewashed by newsrooms with more concern for hair and lighting than for truth.

This isn’t activism. This is anarchism. And Democratic politicians are fueling the flame.