On Monday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz became the first person to officially announce his candidacy for the President of the United States. One word of initial disclosure: while the Intramuralist has never endorsed a candidate nor has any plans to — although we will make observations regarding a candidate or campaign — of all candidates presumed to be running (including those who apply way too much effort attempting to convince us they’ve yet to make up their mind), Ted Cruz would not be my choice to be President. I’m not being critical. I’m simply saying there exist others that I personally believe would be better and more gifted at the job. I may be wrong.
Still, each candidate regardless of party, presents his or herself with a unique resume. Each candidate will have strengths. Each will also have weaknesses. One of my greatest — albeit arguably utopian desires — is that each candidate would transparently share their strengths and weaknesses with the watching public. After all, in any job interview, that’s what each employer wants to know… What are you good at? What are you not?
Hence, I was fascinated after Cruz’s announcement by a singular Tweet. Meredith Shriner, a political reporter for Yahoo News — a previous employee for both Roll Call and Politico and a journalism alum from Duke University shared the following on Twitter:
Shriner suggests talking about God-given rights is bizarre.
Bizarre. That equates to strange, peculiar, funny, outlandish, unusual, nuts, weird, wacky, and somewhere totally off the wall. Outlandish that rights are God-made.
While the Intramuralist would quickly suggest revisiting the Declaration of Independence — and its clear acknowledgement of rights endowed to each of us by our Creator — I suggest the more significant point is the questioning of a candidate because of his belief that God is the bestower of rights — life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and far, far more. When we refuse to recognize what our Founding Fathers knew and thus penned, we begin justifying entitlement.
Chew on that for a minute… When we believe that rights are determined by man and thus self, we feel entitled. When we feel entitled, we miss the humility prompted by submission to an omniscient, omnipotent Creator — recognizing God as the giver of all things good.
Hence, while I have no current intention of voting for Sen. Cruz, I find this reporter’s post to be somewhat foolish.
Bizarre, actually.
Respectfully…
AR