Why is Cruz running?

Quote: terapined

Hmm, was this a mandatory class?
Probabbly not.
Gigantic difference
Attendance was mandatory at this political rally or you get fined.
Rand Paul supporters were not happy about this.

It was mandatory to purchase and read the book. I forget what class but IIRC every student was required. It would take longer to read a book than attend a rally. And as I read it, the rallies were required Cruz or no Cruz.

Quote: AZDuffman

FWIW even today the government makes people "guess" the person's race in some cases. For example, if you do a face-to-face mortgage application and refuse to give your race the person taking the application has to guess. That is Federal Law. Post-2000! So I will just say a lot of things might have come into play.

I normally claim either to be from central India or Australasian on such forms. Depending on my mood.

Quote: AZDuffman

It was mandatory to purchase and read the book. I forget what class but IIRC every student was required. It would take longer to read a book than attend a rally. And as I read it, the rallies were required Cruz or no Cruz.

You surprise me AZ.
I made sure to post the link from a conservative site, Daily Caller.
Surprised you dont support conservative students supporting Rand Paul that are forced to attend a Ted Cruz political rally.
Once it was changed to a political rally, I think the proper decision would be to not require mandatory attendence with a threat of a fine.

Quote: terapined

Once it was changed to a political rally, I think the proper decision would be to not require mandatory attendence with a threat of a fine.

Its biology dept teaches young Earth creationism as a "better" reason for biodiversity than evolution. "Proper decisions" do not apply here.

Quote: AZDuffman

It was mandatory to purchase and read the book. I forget what class but IIRC every student was required. It would take longer to read a book than attend a rally. And as I read it, the rallies were required Cruz or no Cruz.

Just about every class I attended in college included books that were mandatory to purchase and read. Some of them would have been considered political. I don't see that as unusual.

Quote: jml24

Just about every class I attended in college included books that were mandatory to purchase and read. Some of them would have been considered political. I don't see that as unusual.

First it was not for a class, it was for every student. Maybe every freshman. I forget which.

Second, it is a current political book, not some kind of classic book that "might be political."

It is unusual, and IMHO wrong.

Quote: Wizard

Ted Cruz would be near the bottom of my list for president but I won't hold being born in Canada against him. I think we need to be concerned with real issues.

I would be willing to support an amendment to replace the entire requirement with a 20 year residency requirement. Except I think that there will be some kind of virtual world citizenship in the future. The allure of artificial citizenship is too strong. Freedom from military obligation for your children, an elitist set of tax laws, death taxes that keep the fortunes intact, special legal procedures, etc. Sooner or later some system will be created to provide for these people. It may be an artificial island or an ever moving ship with apartments. It may be based on land negotiated from some poor African nation. It may be almost virtual and only require a token one night stay per year.

As children born into this virtual nation may want power and influence, it seems like the constitutional amendment that was created to protect us from some European gentry will become valuable again.

That would make a good topic for another thread. Doesn't Monaco afford many of these things, although I would imagine they only let in the super wealthy.

He is running....because he hopes to win.

Quote: Fleastiff

He is running....because he hopes to win.

Probably, or to just have influence

There are people who run year after year without a chance, and without the ability to gain some influence. There has to be a reason for that. I do think that one reason is that you don't have to pay income taxes on what people donate to you, so even if that is a small amount ... but I'm not accusing Cruz of that kind of thinking.