Editorial: An Open Letter to Senator Ted Cruz

(The following is Forward Observer‘s first Editorial article.  This is our opportunity to explain this publication’s stance on current events.  We hope that you find this and future editorials thought-provoking.  Be a part of the conversation with us.  Comment below, or write a letter to the editor explaining your position.)

Dear Senator Ted Cruz,

You made front page splashes this week by being the first into the pool of candidates for the 2016 general election.  You’ve been one of the sweetheart candidates of many conservatives and libertarians and, in general, we like you as well.  Any man willing to speak for over 21 hours on the Senate floor in support of defunding the Affordable Care Act is A-Okay in our book.  Hopeless political theatrics aside, that speech was a reminder that all is not lost in Washington, D.C.  (I was one of many who stayed up all night, tweeting you and other senators to keep the torch of Liberty burning, even if only to be a thorn in the side of the State.)

But the deep respect you garnered from us last year was dashed yesterday, after an interview with the Des Moines Register.  In that interview, you admitted that you and your family would be signing up for Obamacare, due to your wife taking a leave of absence from her work at Goldman Sachs; a move that cancelled the family healthcare plan.

You said:

“We will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care, and we’re in the process of transitioning over to do that.”

As a sitting senator, we are aware that you must sign up for the Affordable Care Act by the letter of the law.  But what’s even more saddening than your decision to sign up for Obamacare is your reasoning for abiding by an unconstitutional law.

“I believe we should follow the text of every law, even [a] law I disagree with,” you said during the interview.

Sorry, Ted.  We should not follow the text of every law.  Unconstitutional laws are null and void.

“Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principals follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it..

Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby.

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.” 

— Sixteenth American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Section 177. (late 2nd Ed. Section 256)

We are aware that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled the Affordable Care Act as lawful and constitutional, rather erroneously in a 5-4 decision.  The fact that the Court was split on the decision is an indicator of significant remaining doubt in the minds of the Justices.

Carrying the “follow all laws” concept to its logical conclusion, what if Congress passes a law that makes the practice of Christianity illegal?  That makes illegal drinking alcohol on Friday nights?  That makes not giving 100% of your income to the government an illegal act?

In short, we certainly should not follow all laws just because they’re laws.  As the saying goes, “Everything Hitler did was legal.”  And, given the current trends in the federal government, eventually all the harm they do to the American People will be completely legal as well.

For all that the Founders risked to secure precious Liberty, including committing acts of violence against the King and vandalism against the property of the King, it seems quite ridiculous that such an outspoken critic of Obamacare would indeed sign up for it.  As Ronald Reagan did not ask Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down the wall” by offering to help add brick and mortar to it; I would urge you, Senator Cruz, to not add any credence to a law that even you feel is not suitable to be foisted on the American People.

Senator Cruz, show some true backbone and defy a law that is unjust and unfair to the American People!  Do not submit to a law that you truly feel is not congruent with traditional American values and our beloved Constitution.

If you are a Patriot, here’s your chance to be one.  If you wish to stand on the moral high ground when asking us for our votes, this is an opportunity to show us your mettle.