• I get it.  You want a person who values and cherishes the constitution with the same ferocity and protective instincts you carry.
• I get it. I understand the frustration and anxiety from years of watching our constitutional republic disregarded and torn to shreds through DC policy, judicial fiat and legislative usurpation.
• I get it.  I understand the intense core belief that we are a constitutional republic and not a democracy. It should not be too much to ask for a valiant advocate to hear the calling and stand steadfast for the principles inherent within our nation.  I really do understand, and feel the same.

Long ago, during a dinner with Lou Holtz he told the story of his arrival at Notre Dame.  Coach Holtz arrived to find his team filled with untapped talent, yet torn with internal conflict, turmoil, inter-player animosity and backbiting.
Holtz took measure of the team and called them to the locker room.  He passed out paper and pencils and asked each player to write down their grievances and explain why their teammates were holding back the potential inherent in their own skill.  A few hours later he returned to the locker room and led the team to the far side of the practice field.

There the players saw a shovel and hole he had been digging while they were writing.  Coach held out a large empty coffee can; and before asking each player to place their scribe inside the container he asked them to commit to each-other and to God, that what they had written could be removed from their mind forever.
Holtz asked each player to make a promise; a pledge to themselves, to each other and most importantly to God, from that moment forward those grievances would be permanently gone.
Coach Holtz counseled everyone, without judgement, they were under no-compulsion to put their list into that can.  No-one would think worse of them for retaining their grievance.  He promised to fulfill the contract of those who were attending school on scholarship.  Regardless of their decision, every man before him was guaranteed a college degree from Notre Dame University.
However, those who chose not to drop their grievances would not be on the team.
Even if it meant Holtz fielded a team of barely enough players, he was not going to lead a fractured army; his program could only succeed as a united effort.
Coach stood, and in order to give the young men time to think, he bowed his head in prayer.  After several minutes Holtz then held out the can.
One-by-one the players folded their notes and placed them in the can; each fully understanding the severity of the counsel they had just witnessed. Each player in his own way defining himself in that moment of decision and choosing to give themselves to a greater possibility.  The sum is greater than the collective assembly of the individual parts.
Holtz then took the can, sealed it, placed it in the ground and asked each of the players to use the shovel to bury their collective grievances.  Linking hands they formed a circle around the now covered hole.  They stood in the darkening twilight in that furthest corner of the field – and they prayed together.
The final words from Coach Holtz echoed with severity amid the stillness.  He asked them to look at each other, and to look at the field behind them.  He reminded them that in this moment, right then, they were looking at the birth place of champions.  He looked toward the direction of the stadium where thousands gather to cheer the Fighting Irish, and he reminded them that is was not over there where champions were born – it was right here on the practice field, when no-one is cheering and no-one is watching.
Coach told them each how proud he was to be a part of “their team of champions” – and he pledged with full measure of intensity that he would never disregard them, nor would he ever fail them.  He then sent them back to the dorms….. the rest, as they say, is history.

This story is shared because I am willing to put all my Ted Cruz objections into a similar coffee can and bury them forever:

• The relationship with the Council on Foreign Relations.
• The relationship with Wall Street banking interests.
• The votes to support TPPA.
• The decision to support McConnell January through June 2014.

I fully understand that a man of principle can make mistakes and accidentally place himself in a position of compromise.
Ted Cruz won victory in the 2012 Texas Senate race despite the establishment supporting his opponent Dewhurst.  Cruz then went to DC to fulfill his campaign promise to repeal ObamaCare and fight against the DC constructs he later called the “cartel”.
Cruz is a very intelligent, intensely sharp and highly articulate representative Senator.  All of these attributes are merited and evidenced by those who know and speak of him.
Ted Cruz walked into the belly of the beast and fought valiantly for 10 months in 2013 to bring about change.  It stands as reasonable for a man who faced the severity of the professional DC Republican class, and the onslaught of a media machine seeking his destruction, that he would be exhausted in the winter of ’13/’14 and make a poor decision to trust Mitch McConnell purely based on finding himself in a position of isolation.  I can reconcile the mistakes which stem as a result of psychological/emotional exhaustion.

But if we are going to stand naked before each other, and have an honest conversation, there are basic acceptances that must also stand.

During the period when McConnell was leading Cruz astray (December ’13 to June ’14) and while Cruz was vice-chair of the NRSC -which was maneuvering to support McConnell’s buddy Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran- unbeknownst to Cruz McConnell was actively engaged with the RNC in creating the GOPe roadmap.
Part of that 2014 activity, which Cruz was presumably unaware of, was the a collaboration between the GOPe and RNC to make changes to benefit the power interests who were planning the future nomination path for Jeb Bush.
Republican primary race rule changes, finance changes (hidden in the CRomnibus bill), delegate distribution changes, party primary date changes etc., were/are all part of the collaborative RNC/GOPe construct to deliver an establishment win for Jeb Bush (similar to 2012 with Mitt Romney).

While the NRSC simultaneously plotted to attack Chris McDaniels in Mississippi, Matt Bevin in Kentucky, and following the RNC success against Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia, and while Cruz and Rand Paul were leveraged to sit on the sidelines, these aforementioned plans were all taking place behind closed door.
It is accepted that by the time Ted Cruz caught on, and after he had given $240,000 to the NRSC, it was too late – the GOPe had already launched their attacks.
As a result, and after the mid-term elections, in January of 2015 Ted Cruz quit the NRSC.
Regardless of the discomfort inherent in these admissions, they are historical realities.  None of these acceptances disqualify Cruz from presidential consideration today.
Fair enough?
However, the acceptance of what follows next is where find ourselves at loggerheads.  The pathway the RNC/GOPe constructed to elect Jeb Bush specifically was designed to eliminate/defeat Ted Cruz.
Stop.  And re-read this reality:

The GOPe road map was specifically and intentionally created by scheme and construct, to intentionally block any possibility for Ted Cruz to achieve 2016 presidential victory.

As a direct and factual outcome there is nothing Ted Cruz can do to overcome the structural dynamics currently in place which block any possibility of him achieving electoral victory.  Period.
We have laid out the rules, laid out the road-map, and laid out the primary contests -REPEATEDLY- and we continued to asked anyone who finds themselves refusing this reality to outline a path for Cruz victory.
Unfortunately, it simply does not exist.
The RNC rules are now in place; the RNC primary dates are now all confirmed; the RNC delegate distributions all now set in stone;  and there’s enough key state polling data for anyone to use who wants to prove this false.
We have studied this road-map intensely.  We have explored the district-by-district level possibilities within each of the pre-March 16th 2016 states a hundred different ways, the numbers for anyone other than Trump just don’t add up.
The GOPe road-map was specifically created to block Ted Cruz, or anyone like Ted Cruz, from achieving victory.
Team Jeb is: Rubio, Fiorina, Christie, Huckabee, Kasich, Perry, Graham, Pataki and Gilmore. (10 establishment candidates all part of the RNC/GOPe machine)  We have outlined it all HERE.
If, for the sake of intellectual exercise, you remove Donald Trump from the race and apportion his supporters in a reasonable manner, what you will find is that the GOPe road map kicks back into play – and no non-jeb is able to pull enough support to defeat Jeb.
Remove Trump and Ben Carson becomes Herman Cain 2012; Cruz becomes Gingrich, Jeb replaces Romney and the 2016 outcome becomes 2012 ground-hog day.  Just as designed.
Here’s the kicker…. As previously mentioned, Ted Cruz is a smart guy, and therefore Ted Cruz also is aware of this.
Ted Cruz is fully aware of this – he picked up on it months ago.  Hence:

We don’t like it either.  It’s almost too bitter a pill to swallow – too big a bitter pill to accept.   But that doesn’t change the result.
However, if you find yourself still seeking some proof therein, just ask the man himself.  Ask Cruz, or a Cruz campaign insider to outline a pathway to victory.
[ps. For what it’s worth, it’s strongly suspected that Scott Walker is also aware.]
The Republican Party, and the Republican media apparatus, view us as their enemy. We are the enemy they need to protect themselves from:

States that have primaries on or after March 15 will be winner-take-all states.

That’s important because another RNC rule change requires that a candidate must win a majority of delegates in eight or more states before his or her name may be presented for nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention.