By Kimberly Wethal

March 24, 2016

Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) focused on national security, private sector job growth and freedom at his rally at the The Armory in Janesville on March 24.

The venue was full of people standing by the time the rally started around 5:10 p.m.

East Troy High School senior Josiah Lang attended the rally, as he said he plans to vote for the first time in the November presidential election.

He finds himself agreeing with many of the platforms Cruz has built his campaign on.

“If Cruz gets elected, it’s going to be a game-changer for America and our future,” Lang said.

Cruz addressed the ideas that college students are graduating from college with thousands of dollars of debt with no jobs to go to, repealing “every word” of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“We’re here because our country is in crisis,” Cruz said. “We’re bankrupting our kids and grandkids because our constitutional rights are under assault each and every day. Because America has receded from leadership in the world, it’s made the world a much more dangerous place.”

He condemned President Barack Obama’s reaction to acts of terrorism, most recently this week following the attacks in Brussels, Belgium, saying political correctness was limiting the work done by the U.S. Military.

Cruz said the military has had their “hands tied behind their backs” during the Obama administration due to political correctness.

He says it’s “immoral.”

“Over the past seven years, we’ve had an administration that abandons our friends and allies, and shows weakness and appeasement to our enemies,” Cruz said. “No longer will our military be governed by political correctness.

“In the wake of these terrorist attacks, whether it be Paris, whether it’s San Bernardino, whether it’s Brussels, we have a president in President Obama who goes on television and refuses to even say the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism,’” Cruz added. “Instead, he lectures Americans on Islamophobia. Enough is enough.”

Cruz said if was sworn in as president in January 2017, he’d send the military to kill all “jihadists.”

Obama addressed the American people from Cuba on Tuesday following the ISIS attacks in Brussels, Belgium while giving a speech about the relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

“This is yet another reminder that the world must unite,” Obama said. “We must be together regardless of nationality, or race, or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism. We can and we will defeat those who threaten the security of people all around the world.”

Cruz spoke to the single mothers “who are working two or three part-time jobs” who have seen their hours reduced due to ACA regulations that kick in when an employee reaches 30 hours a week.

“The wages stay stagnant year after year,” he said. “Cost of living keeps going up, but somehow your paycheck doesn’t seem to keep pace.”

Cruz said job growth can be achieved by taking the “boot of the government off the backs of small businesses,” a phenomenon he claims America has seen the past seven years. Cruz’s words come as a contradiction to a growth of 8.7 million jobs as of October 2015 under the Obama administration, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

He also proposed rewriting the tax code to create a flat tax in order for Americans to fill out their taxes on a postcard-style form while abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Transitioning into his next theme of freedom, Cruz referenced the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, saying America is “one liberal Justice away” from the Supreme Court stripping away religious liberties, erasing the Second Amendment protecting gun rights and bringing the country under the authority of the World Court and the United Nations.

Cruz then accused GOP frontrunner Donald Trump of being willing to compromise with Democrats when it came down to religious liberties.

Getting personal

Cruz also took the time to deliver a few personal blows to Trump, especially when it came down to comments about his wife Heidi.

Trump’s wife Melania was the center of an ad campaign where naked photos from a 2000 “GQ Magazine” photoshoot were used to advocate for voters to choose Cruz over Trump, because of how each of the potential First Ladies have represented themselves.

The ad was not created or endorsed by Ted Cruz, but instead by the anti-Trump political action committee (PAC) “Make America Awesome.”

Trump tweeted about the ad and personally accused Cruz for being the mastermind behind it.

“Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad,” Trump tweeted. “Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!”

Cruz responded by calling Trump a “sniveling coward” while on the campaign trail in Wisconsin.

Cruz made mention of his polling numbers in Wisconsin, and his one point lead over the real estate mogul.

He says there’s more at stake than just an election with a Trump candidacy – a Supreme Court nominee and the Bill of Rights hang in the balance, Cruz said.

“It’s easy to talk about making America great again – you can even print that on baseball caps,” he said. “It’s another thing to understand the principles and values that made America great in the first place.”