Life Is Hard When You're Shameless
It's even harder when you're Ted Cruz
Ah, yes; the power of grievance politics and assuming the worst of everyone not named “Ted Cruz.” Never mind that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is part of the very government he derides. What Cruz is counting on, of course, is that the anger and disillusionment he’s working so hard to stoke among his supporters will blind them to the truth. And that truth is that he and people like him are manipulating widespread popular anger, not because they’re trying to create a better America, but because they’re trying to seize power and crush democracy.
Ted Cruz cares about his supporters (and democracy writ large) only insofar as they allow him to pursue the inflation of his own power and influence.
Cruz isn’t stupid- far from it- though there are times you’d have a difficult time knowing that judging by his words and attitude. He’s the owner of Ivy League Bachelors and J.D. degrees. He’s an accomplished lawyer who began his climb serving in Texas state government. Yet, at every stage in his career, his Prime Directive, the thing that’s motivated his march forward, is the question of what he could do to advance his career prospects.
ASK NOT WHAT TED CRUZ CAN DO FOR AMERICA. NO, ASK WHAT AMERICA CAN DO FOR TED CRUZ.
It’s doesn’t matter that there’s nothing evil or manipulative in the idea of Big Bird being used to acclimate children to the thought of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. government isn’t trying to propagandize children into being microchipped or having their DNA altered. No, they’re merely trying to normalize the idea of doing the right thing for the right reasons.
When you strip away all of the crap thrown at it by demagogues and weasels like Cruz, the government is trying to save lives. Period. End of story.
Cruz is a parent himself, so it’s not as if he doesn’t understand caring about children. Until recently, though, children under the age of 12 couldn’t be vaccinated, so they were sent back to school despite being imperiled by potential exposure to COVID-19. And the health and well-being of these children were treated as a political debating point, especially in red states.
Listen to the junior Senator from Texas for any length of time, and you might find yourself thinking that the federal government is trying to create an army of compliant children. After all, if Joe Biden and his evil minions can convince parents to inoculate their children against COVID-19, how long before Liberals wade in and force them to adhere to other policies?
Despite the bleatings about propaganda from Cruz, this isn’t Sesame Street attempting to use its power and influence to force children to get vaccinated. It’s about improving the quality of life for children and avoiding the possibility of long-haul COVID-19 syndrome.
And don’t schools require children to be vaccinated against a boatload of preventable childhood diseases before they can set foot in a classroom. When I was a schoolboy, back in the Dark Ages, if I didn’t get vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, etc., I couldn’t go to school.
How is this any different? The short answer, of course, is that it’s not- save for the fact that childhood vaccines during my time weren’t political minefields.
Does Texas Senator Ted Cruz have any shame? The question has been answered over and over and over and...over... He has never missed an opportunity to shamelessly act like stupidity’s talking meat-puppet. Normally going after Big Bird (Cruz called the Sesame Street character’s encouragement to kids to get vaccinated “government propaganda”) would be something that would make a politician look petty and small. If you’re Ted Cruz, nothing can make you look petty and small—because petty and small is your default setting.
Rather than calling Cruz a self-absorbed, fascist pinhead- which probably wouldn’t be altogether inaccurate- let’s remember that parents love their children. And because they love their children, they want the best for them. Sesame Street is trying to help out by using Big Bird to ease any discomfort they may have with getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
And Ted Cruz? He can continue spreading anti-science disinformation (despite being vaccinated himself) and having a role in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. From where I sit, though, he can pound sand. He has nothing- zero, zip, nada, bupkis- to offer America anymore. He’s become a 24/7/365 sideshow, like watching Bozo the Clown without the make-up…because he doesn’t need any.
When he decides he does have something positive to offer, I’ll listen. But, until then, I’m sick of Cruz forcing his way into the public discourse when what he’s doing is the equivalent of peeing in the pool.
Enough is enough.
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