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Op-Ed: Ted Cruz is part of a dying breed of social conservatives

The 2016 presidential primary season is shaping up to be very interesting. And although some Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have already announced their candidacies, all eyes have undoubtedly been on the GOP field, which seems to be growing every day.

The GOP has been struggling in recent years, with Americans becoming increasingly more liberal, especially when it comes to social issues like the war on drugs and gay marriage. Even many conservatives have been taking more libertarian stances on these sorts of issues, as was demonstrated by the massive support for marijuana legalization in polls taken at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. (CPAC)

Because of this change of heart in American politics, many traditional conservative candidates are losing a lot of support. Rand Paul, the son of the purist libertarian Ron Paul and somewhat of a libertarian-leaning conservative himself, has been leading in many of the primary polls, including the CPAC straw poll, which he won. That’s why, if the GOP hopes to win the White House in 2016, Ted Cruz is not the answer.

Ted Cruz, a Republican Senator from Texas, announced back in March that he would be seeking the GOP’s nomination for president. Since then, he has been a subject of controversy in the media. Most recently, he has been taking some heat for his comments on gay rights. When asked about his thoughts on the issue, Cruz responded by avoiding the actual question and making some comments about ISIS.

“ISIS is executing homosexuals – you want to talk about gay rights?” he said after a reporter asked him whether or not he had a “personal animosity against gay Americans.” He went on to say, “This week was a very bad week for gay rights because the expansion of ISIS, the expansion of radical, theocratic Islamic zealots that crucify Christians, that behead children and that murder homosexuals.”

It’s this kind of response that causes Cruz and the GOP to lose support among the more libertarian-minded and this certainly isn’t the first time he has avoided a question or flip-flopped. On the issue of marijuana legalization, Cruz seems to have several different opinions that conflict with one another. One one hand, he has made comments about marijuana legalization being a state’s right, which is something that social liberals and constitutionalists can easily get on board with. On the other hand, he has also criticized the Obama administration for not enforcing the federal marijuana laws.

While there are still a lot of traditional social conservatives in the United States, the number is quickly going down. Ted Cruz is part of a dying breed, which is why if he becomes the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, we’ll most likely see another Democrat elected. Americans are ready for a new narrative and the GOP has to deliver if it hopes to succeed in the coming years.

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