Ted Cruz's Viewpoints
Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz was born December 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware and his father was born in Cuba. Mr. Cruz was raised in Houston, Texas and graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy.
Cruz then attended Harvard Law School, earning a JD degree. At Harvard, he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review. During his occupational career, Mr. Cruz was a law clerk to J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals. Cruz was also the first Hispanic to clerk for a Chief Justice.
After serving as a clerk, he worked as an attorney from 1997 to 1998. Mr. Cruz served as associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department during George W. Bush’s presidency. In 2003, he was appointed to the Office of Solicitor General of Texas and served until 2008. In 2012, he was elected to the Senate of the United States representing Texas.
In March of 2015, Ted Cruz announced that he was running from President in the 2016 election. He was viewed as favorite to win the GOP nomination at that time. February 1, 2016, Mr. Cruz won the Iowa Caucuses receiving 28% of the vote. February 10, 1026 he placed third in the New Hampshire Primary with 12% and on February 21, 2016 placed third in the South Carolina Primary with 22.3% of the vote.
Currently, the Real Clear Politics poll has his running second with 20.3% of the vote. Ted Cruz is a strong conservative and believes in strict interpretation of the Constitution. He is pro-life, opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, but wants to leave it to the individual states to decide, supports gun-rights, favors the death penalty and wants immigration reform.
Second Amendment
One topic that is commonly debated amongst politics is the
. The Second Amendment protects the rights Americans to keep and bear arms, which was adopted December 15, 1791. All of the recent news of gun deaths due to mass shootings has drawn attention to gun rights reform and is becoming a big issue to debate in the 2016 Presidential Election. Senator Cruz opposes gun control. He has been a leader in the defense of our rights to keep and bear arms. He has publicly opposed restricting the second amendment, the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty and unreasonable gun restrictions.
Immigration
Another topic is Illegal immigration. This is a highly debated topic in this election as well. Every candidate has a different idea on how to handle the issue. Immigrants are crossing the border, staying illegally and committing crimes. In addition, the threat of terrorism continues to rise and not controlling who comes into and stays in this country only increases that risk. Recent news reports that thousands of illegal immigrants were released from custody in spite of their immigrant status. Senator Cruz is a strong supporter of immigration reform. He outlines his plan to secure the border, restore the rule of law and reform legal immigration to protect Americans in his Cruz Immigration Plan Summary. He opposed the “Gang of Eight” bill saying it did not do enough to reform immigration.
National Security
A third topic that is commonly debated is National security and defending our country. Since 9/11 has always a topic of concern, everyone agrees that protecting our country and its citizens is a priority but they see differently when it comes to how to do it. The security of our nation is an important topic in the 2016 Election. A majority of Americans feel like the current President has not done enough to protect us and are looking for the next President to have better policies to make sure our country is safe.
Senator Cruz has a specific plan to "Defend our Nation" which includes setting an example for the rest of the world, showing leadership, rebuilding our military, defeating ISIS, protecting our homeland and getting rid of the Iran deal. There are a lot of issues to be addressed during this Presidential Election. It is one of the most important elections in our lifetime and it is our duty as Americans to do our research and make informed decisions. The following links will help you in your research efforts.
