Ted Cruz is making Congress listen to the people

Tim Carney:

Ted Cruz's filibuster-like speech in the Senate on Tuesday wasn't primarily about Obamacare. It was about making Congress more responsive to the people.

Cruz is not a policy wonk or a health care expert. He probably can't explain how the exchanges face huge logistical hurdles, how the regulations lead to provider consolidation, or how the whole package will raise health care costs and limit access.

Instead, Cruz explained that Obamacare is unpopular – that Americans don’t want the law to go into effect – but that Congress doesn’t care. A Washington Post/ABC poll last week found 52 percent opposed the law, while only 42 percent supported it. Obamacare has never had majority support in the Post/ABC poll going back to 2009.

The liberal response: Once people find out what’s in Obamacare, they’ll like it. This is plausible. Many people will get coverage for the first time in years. Many people will see their premiums fall.

But for Cruz, Obamacare is primarily a symbol of a Congress unaccountable to the voters. His fight is about bringing Congress in line with the people's will. “Fundamentally, that's what this week is about. We need to make D.C. listen,” Cruz said in the first hour of his speech. Cruz staffers used the Twitter hashtag #MakeDClisten.

And this “Make D.C. Listen” effort is exactly how Cruz has infuriated his fellow Republicans – by going over their heads and straight to the voters.
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In recent weeks, Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah worked with the Senate Conservatives Fund on ads about defunding Obamacare. Cruz and Lee in the videos implored conservative voters to tell their senators to defund Obamacare.

Now, the Senate Conservatives Fund is running attack ads in the states of reluctant Republican senators. “Republicans in Congress can stop Obamacare by refusing to fund it. But Senator Lamar Alexander refuses to join the fight,” a typical SCF radio ad says. “It’s time for Lamar Alexander to start listening to us and not his friends in Washington.”

You can see why other Republican senators wouldn't like this. You can see why they don't like Cruz and Lee playing ball with these outside groups. And you could see how this dynamic could hurt the Republican Party.
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What you can see is that some senators do not like being held accountable.  They like to act like they support the Tea Party, but when they have the opportunity to do so they find reasons not to.  There are some Republican senators like Ted Cruz who are fearless in their support of the voters and there are those who take counsel of their fears.