As Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) sprang onto the main stage of the Gaylord Resort in Maryland, the venue for CPAC 2014, the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate quickly offered a warning to the thousands in attendance.
“God Bless CPAC,” he stated. “Now I do have to start with a bit of bad news. I’m sorry to tell you, but by virtue of being here today, tomorrow each and every one of you is going to be audited by the IRS.” The audience, of course, appreciated his dark humor and gave the Texas senator a big round of applause.
Cruz explained that our country is at a “crisis point. And that liberty is under assault.” Cruz said that Americans have a choice: they can stand aside and “not rock the boat and do anything,” or they can stand up for “principles.” Cruz recounted the array of cautionary directives that we hear from Washington like “Don’t stand against Obamacare. Don’t stand against the debt ceiling. Don’t stand against Nothing.” Cruz said that the way for conservatives and Republicans to lose elections is simple: “Don’t stand for anything.”
The Texas senator blamed the losses in 2006, 2008, and 2012 on conservatives not defining the causes for which they stood. However, in 2010, Republicans asserted themselves emphatically and “drew a line in the sand.” According to Cruz, Republicans stood “unequivocally against Obamacare and against bankrupting the country” and as a result “won in an historic tidal wave.”
Cruz made the point that recent Republican presidential candidates McCain and Romney were good and decent men but lacked the ability to draw a line in the sand and distinguish themselves on conservative principles. The senator claims that when Republican candidates don’t “stand for principles, Democrats celebrate.”