Et Tu, Ted Cruz?

During a Senate hearing this past Wednesday – January 5, 2022 – Senator Ted Cruz decried all violence against police officers in the strongest possible terms, and that is proper.

We have to agree with him that far. Law enforcement should be respected, honored, and protected as its members strive mightily in our neighborhoods, cities, states, and nation to serve faithfully.

Yet January 6, 2021 was not a terrorist attack, Senator Cruz. And claiming that it was even briefly represented a serious lapse of good judgment on your part.

Petitioning Grievance Redress

I dare say the vast majority of concerned Americans who went to the capital city of these United States of America a year ago to march and make their voices heard were similarly motivated to the brave officers who patrol our streets upholding the decent laws of this land.

Democrats have made much political hay out of trying to flip that narrative. They are the law, as they see it, and their will and whim reigns forevermore. Complaints from flyover country be damned, representing in their minds a coup against the established order – their order.

A stronger and more durable argument can be made, however, that law-abiding, God-fearing American citizens who objected to the certification of the 2020 Election better represented the rule of law than many members of Congress have. And as that better argument goes, Democrat operatives carried out the real coup – with some success, I might add.

But peacefully assembling and petitioning our government for a redress of grievances is a sacred right protected by our Constitution. Above that, the Constitution is not the source of this basic right; it’s an acknowledgement of the God-given right which exists transcendental.

Human governments are always made of fallible men. And sometimes those men err – even the best of them, but certainly the worst. But when they err, they should be firmly but respectfully invited by their constituents and peers to correct themselves before God.

At its core, that is what I believe January 6, 2021 was an attempt at doing. The dishonest narrative the Left has tried to weave to the contrary should be recognized as an attempt to subvert this fundamental right, and countered forcefully rather than affirmed and flattered.

Harmless as Doves

With the utmost respect for the honorable senator from Texas, it was a poor use of language and tact to describe January 6 as a terrorist attack – even an attempted one.

It is good to hear Ted Cruz admit as much the day after. All the same, we do well to consider why Senator Cruz made this blunder, whether intentionally or not. And kudos to Tucker Carlson for asking the question point-blank.

“Why’d you say it?”

Yet even more crucially, ‘We the People’ need to resist the temptation to adopt a kind of conservative cancel culture even as we strive to be wise as serpents.

The harmless as doves piece may mean we need better representation than Senator Cruz, but it certainly must mean that we are gracious toward those who err briefly in the midst of an otherwise strong career in public service defending truth, justice, and integrity. 

Let us take care then that we remain gracious rather than embittered and vengeful toward the good senator. Our enemies do enough of that. And if we content ourselves to become like them, I dare say we have given up on conserving truth, beauty, and goodness in this country. Only at that point will we truly be lost.

Barring that possibility, if we keep the faith I trust that by God’s grace this country will come back around. Just you wait and see.

—

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

—

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/message

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/support