Why Cruz is Right – and You Should Be #NeverTrump, Even Now

Why Cruz is Right – and You Should Be #NeverTrump, Even Now July 21, 2016

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Last night, Ted Cruz stunned politicos as he stood at the Republican Convention and urged viewers to “vote their conscience” — instead of the expected “vote for Donald Trump.”

Though people were angry — and some of the delegates loudly booed — this should come as no surprise to those who remember that Trump made fun of Heidi Cruz’s appearance and even suggested that Cruz’s father had something to do with the Kennedy assassination.  Just let that sink in, folks. (Watch Cruz’s response when asked why he won’t endorse Trump here.)

The #NeverTrump movement wasn’t just about this election.  And — as Cruz showed last night — just because Donald Trump is officially the GOP nominee, it doesn’t mean it’s over. To side with #NeverTrump means holding fast to principles, because principles still matter, maybe now more than ever.

Elections come and go and though important to the progress of America, mean nothing if the principles of our nation aren’t left intact. The same is true for our president. His words mean nothing if his character is questionable, and Trump’s character is, at the very least, questionable.

So, how is it that a majority of the Republican Party can stand behind a man who has never lived by the value system that is at the core of the platform? Is the GOP so willing to put the country’s fate into the hands of a dishonest man, a serial adulterer, and someone who aggressively mocks anyone that disagrees with him just because he has voiced strong opposition to illegal immigration and Islamic terrorism? Surely, integrity and moral values make the man, not his words alone.

There’s a reason Ted Cruz said to, “vote your conscience.” Living by that principle ensures you stand firm in your ideals no matter the outcome of an election, even when it comes down to the lesser of two evils.  That’s where we are now. And in that case, the only choice is no evil at all.

There’s more on this from National Review‘s David French, who explains why Never Trump isn’t going away anytime soon:

Finally, there’s the matter of credibility. It is hard enough to argue for conservative ideals — especially Christian conservative ideals — in a popular culture dominated by secular progressives. The far left will never care and never come around, but we don’t live to persuade the unpersuadables. Instead, we seek to win over those who haven’t gone all-in for the other side. We seek to find the open minds.

To the open-minded, how credible is a message of life, individual liberty, free markets, and limited government coming from erstwhile conservatives who tossed those values overboard for the sake of a single election? How credible is a message that a great nation needs good citizens if friends and neighbors coming from the advocates of a known liar? How can anyone resist the continued decadence and degradation of the sexual revolution after casting his lot with a proud philanderer?

The conservative movement is invested in the long game — our own “long march” through American cultural institutions. It is not worth throwing away years of influence for the sake of four months of intraparty peace. When Trump crashes and burns — and he will, either on the trail or in the Oval Office — Americans won’t look to his partisans and defenders to rebuild from the wreckage. They’ll seek other voices. For the sake of the nation, it’s vital that those other voices are both conservative and untainted by alliance or association with the newly minted Republican nominee for president.


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