https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AWLb2kIwb8
The American Conservative Union (ACU) honored presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz with a rating of 100 percent for his conservatism. Every year, the organization ranks each member of congress based on conservative principles and awards a score based on their voting record, matching it to the following:
- Belief that the Constitution is designed to guarantee the free exercise of the inherent rights of the individual through strictly limiting the power of government.
- Belief in the Declaration of Independence, and that inherent rights are endowed by the Creator. Belief that liberties can remain secure only if government limited.
- Belief that capitalism is the only economic system compatible with political liberty.
- Belief that collectivism and capitalism are incompatible, and that when government competes with capitalism, it jeopardizes the natural economic growth of society and the well-being and freedom of the citizenry.
- Belief that when inherent rights are threatened from within or without, individuals should join together to protect these rights.
This year, the average score for the House was 45 percent and for the Senate, 44 percent. Republican presidential candidate John Kasich scored 88 percent.
Democratic presidential hopefuls, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton scored six percent and eight percent respectively. Surprisingly, they were not the lowest scoring legislators. In fact, there are more than 100 lawmakers who are presumably equally proud of the zero rating given to them by the group.
Some longtime legislators who earned zeroes this year have lifetime ratings from ACU in the single digits. Rep. Nancy Pelosi has a lifetime rating of 2.7, Sen. Al Franken has 1.14 and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has a 1.15 lifetime rating.
Keep up the great work!
ACU has been rating lawmakers for 45 years. It also sponsors the well-known Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC.
Image and video courtesy of American Conservative Union
