Your Opinion: Astounded by criticism of Cruz

Dear Editor:

We hear a lot about the mandate Obama received in his overwhelming 2012 victory over Mitt (Romneycare) Romney. 

In 2008 Obama won with 53.7 percent of the vote, in 2012 he received only 51.4 percent of the vote. He received 7 million fewer votes in 2012 than he received in 2008. Is that a mandate?

I am astounded at the level of criticism being heaped on Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee. Sen. Cruz was elected with 56.6 percent of the vote and Sen. Lee was elected with 61.6 percent of the vote, much larger mandates than that received by Obama, in either 2008 or 2012.

Senators Cruz and Lee are representing the voters in Texas and Utah who elected them. Over the past two years I've spent 10 weeks doing volunteer work in Texas. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there. The Texans I met think they are intelligent enough to make decisions concerning the welfare of Texans. They actually don't understand that they need the federal government stealing more of their money and freedom.

Are we in Missouri too stupid and stingy to take care of our own problems? Is there no one in Missouri capable of making good decisions on how to educate our children, how to take adequate care of the truly needy, etc. Are we so ignorant that we must cede control of our lives to those in other states? Do we believe that all the free money from D.C. comes from some magic money tree in D.C.? Why should we accept being forced to send our money to D.C. so that federal politicians and bureaucrats can take a cut and then send part of it back to us, along with a mountain of rules and regulations? Those same people have refused to pass a federal budget for years, they refuse to enforce immigration laws and they continue to run up massive debts that amount to financial child abuse. Does anyone seriously think those people can make better decisions about what we need in Missouri?

Nancy Pelosi actually has the chutzpah to get up on TV and say that there is no place to cut spending. Harry Reid wants a trillion dollar increase in taxes. I think a government shutdown will show us that we can get by with far less federal government.