Round 1: Cruz vs. Paul

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It’s just like Christmas….You know how Christmas ads just seem to start earlier and earlier every year? So it is with the 2016 Presidential Race. We’ve still got about 19 months until that fateful day. And yet it has been some of the top stories in the last couple weeks.

Here at Paineful Truth, we try to go a bit deeper than the headlines that you get in the news every week. So why this story if the elections are so far away? Because, in my opinion, the sooner we can unite behind one candidate, the better chance there is of actually getting them into office. With the possibility of 16 or so candidates in the Republican primary, the sooner we weed out the non-choices, the better. *
This is not to endorse either-or, I think it’s too early to call and not all the players are present. The goal here is to get as many facts presented to a candid country as possible so that the most informed and educated decision can be made.
So let’s get into it!
The Declaration of Independence is our country’s charter. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. In other words, the Declaration laid out what America was about, the Constitution told us how to do it. Therefore, when looking for a leader of this country, it greatly behooves us to see what is required in these documents concerning leaders.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” - Declaration of Independence.
In these few words, our Founding Fathers summed up what America was supposed to be all about. Let’s take it apart and see what we should be looking for in Cruz and Paul.
Do they believe in these self-evident truths? (1) All men are created equal and all have unalienable (unable to be taken away), God-given rights, (2) these rights include, but are not limited to, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, (3) government’s purpose is to protect these rights,  and (4) government can only have powers granted to it by willing consent of the people.
Ted Cruz:  “What is the promise of America? The idea that, the revolutionary idea, that this country was founded upon, which was our rights, they don’t come from man. They come from God Almighty.”   
Mr. Cruz said he began “....to study the United States Constitution, learning about the incredible protections we have in this country that protect the God-given liberty of every American.”     
He talked about “.....the revolutionary idea that this country was founded upon, which is that our rights don’t come from man. They come from God Almighty.”     
“....imagine a federal government that works to defend the sanctity of human life…”     
“And that the purpose of the Constitution, as Thomas Jefferson put it, is to serve as chains to bind the mischief of government.”
Rand Paul: “We must remember that our rights our unlimited, unenumerated and given to us by God. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”    
“I am 100% pro-life. I believe life begins at conception and that abortion takes the life of an innocent human being. It is the duty of our government to protect this life as a right guaranteed under the Constitution.”     
He calls for  “....a return to a government restrained by the Constitution.”     
“Our great nation was founded upon the extraordinary notion that government should be restrained and freedom should be maximized.”
Those are the facts. These two men both qualify based on their understanding and belief in the fundamental principles that a leader of this country should hold to. Are there other issues of importance to test these men on before they get a vote? Of course.
But remember this is just ‘Round 1’. Stay tuned for ‘Round 2’.
Jonathan Paine
painefultruth76.blogspot.com
@painefultruth76

[*Note: I do not consider myself a Republican, nor does Paineful Truth endorse the Republican Party. However, the Republican party’s platform lines up closest (not completely but closest)  to the political ideology of our Founding Fathers. Therefore in the majority of cases (but not as a rule), our votes go to a carefully researched Republican.]

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