Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the Values Voter Summit, 2014.
Okay, so Sen. Ted Cruz has a new gig as chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Space and Competitiveness, and as such, will be the main politico in charge of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
To hear Democrats and liberals talk, you’d think the sky was falling. But why?
As Cruz pointed out in his statement about his appointment – entitled “Focus NASA on Its Core Mission: Exploring Space, and More of It” – his main goal is simply to return the U.S. space program to its once undisputed greatness.
“We have lost sight of that clarion call,” he said, referring to America’s past regard for space exploration as a “crucial front in the battle between freedom and tyranny.” And now? We hitch rides with the Russians to the International Space Station.
“The United States should work alongside our international partners, but not be dependent on them,” Cruz said. “We should once again lead the way for the world in space exploration.”
Agreed.
Really, all Cruz wants to do is turn back the clock to a time when America’s space exploration put exploration at the top of its mission list – above, say, special agendas. And it’s not as if his concerns about the agency are new. As far back as 2011, Rep. Lamar Smith called for federal investigations into the “politicization” of NASA and whether the space agency had been compromised by Democratic-fueled demands and its mission, usurped by President Obama’s utopian-style vision. Remember this?
NASA chief Charles Bolden told an Al-Jazeera crowd in mid-2010 that Obama charged him with three things – to inspire children to learn science and math; to expand the agency’s relations with other countries; and “perhaps foremost … to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and … help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering,” he said.
Fast-forward a bit to Obama’s 2013 full-court press for climate change regulations, and who emerges as one of his biggest fans? NASA.
“I have seen just how fragile our home planet it – and I’m committed to doing everything I can to help protect it,” said Boden, in a blog post that vowed NASA’s help in tracking Earth’s environmental degradations.
Wait a minute – isn’t NASA first and foremost a space exploration agency?
Cruz thinks so. But here’s where the fight gets really interesting – and the useful idiots of the left make their big splash.
The “We the People” section of the White House website touts not one, but two petitions aimed at removing Cruz from his oversight position of NASA. The first, with under 1,000 signatures, faults the Texas senator for proposed funding cuts for NASA, as well as for his “complete … disregard” of the EPA. The second, with nearly 35,000 signatures, calls for Cruz to be booted from his current NASA-oversight role, and to ban him serving on “any other science based committee.” The petition also labels Cruz as “scientifically illiterate,” and demands the White House sub in “a person worthy of the position.”
But how about a little political literacy – and awareness that the president of the United States is not a king who appoints members of Congress and committees to do executive bidding? Still, to the left, agenda trumps law, and hatred for Cruz apparently drowns out reason. What’s notable, though, is that tens of thousands of people would sign on to the petition in just a few short days – a sad commentary when a presidential election’s looming. Do these people actually vote?
Cherly Chumley, a full-time news writer with The Washington Times, is also the author of Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare is Becoming Our Reality, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. To learn more about Cheryl, visit her website.
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