An Open Letter to Texas Senator Ted Cruz

Dear Senator Cruz:

Yes, it’s me, the guy who keeps calling your office and leaving messages requesting your plan on the issues you complain about the most. Right, the guy who constantly challenges you on Twitter and offers to help you come up with proactive solutions to the problems facing us here in Texas. As a constituent, I feel it’s my responsibility to stay in touch with you, even if you don’t feel the need to reciprocate. Thus far you haven’t been listening, so I’m trying a different approach.

Lately you’ve been on the poll-induced war path about illegal immigration, an issue which impacts our state more than most. This is not an easy issue, as evidenced by the fact that no President of either party has been able to successfully bridge the gap between our overloaded immigration system and our country’s commitment to harboring the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Our governor has no solution, Senator John Cornyn has no solution, and you’re also loathe to present one, yet you and Cornyn, being in the gridlocked US Senate have the greatest capacity to bring about meaningful change on this issue. It is for this reason that I have chosen to petition you relentlessly to help solve the problem.

I see you Tweeting about appearances on sketchy web shows and non-news networks offering up your criticism of President Joe Biden’s “border problem,” indicating that you don’t understand that he hasn’t changed anything substantial from the former Republican President’s policies. Actually, I think you DO understand that, just as I’m sure you know that Democrats have not created an “open border,” as you keep saying. What I’m trying to do is give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you are handed those talking points which have been proven to resonate with your target audience and you just repeat them. Assuming that’s the case, and that if you had an opportunity to do more than play political games you would, let’s break down what I believe to be a workable solution.

In downtown Dallas there’s a wonderful homeless shelter called Austin Street Shelter. It’s something of a halfway house that provides a great deal more than a roof over the heads of the many homeless folks here in the Metroplex. They provide meals, accountability, opportunity, and volunteers come in to help by sharing their skills, whether it’s a band coming in to lift their spirits, a barber coming in to offer free haircuts, or resumé experts coming in to help them get into the work force. Residents can move up from a simple cot in a big open room to an actual room in an apartment in the adjacent complex if they achieve their goals.

It occurs to me that we could do something similar with the many immigrants risking life and limb with hopes of finding better lives for themselves and their families in the self-professed Land of Opportunity. Instead of building more prisons, perhaps our tax dollars could be put to work building halfway houses similar to the Austin Street Shelter. They could help people become legal citizens, learn English, get their children prepared for school, and then get into the work force. When they enter the work force, of course, they pay taxes, helping the program to be cost-effective for John Q. Taxpayer. It also provides an invaluable service, since everyone suffers when business around the state lack the manpower to function efficiently. The job website Indeed lists some 63,000 job openings in Texas, and that’s not counting the thousands more available at every fast food restaurant, retail outlet, gas station, etc. Everywhere we look we see “Help Wanted” signs in the windows of businesses begging for applicants. The solution I propose solves numerous problems and is straightforward enough to be implemented in a relatively short period of time.

Look, we know you like to take credit for things that help our country, such as when you took credit for an infrastructure bill you voted against:

The Ports to Plains highway will run from Laredo all the way up to North Dakota and into Canada.

This project will bring jobs to Texas and millions of dollars to the state.

A great bipartisan victory! pic.twitter.com/GTgmn0Iliy

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 12, 2022

Why not take credit for something you can actually vote for and help implement? I don’t even need credit! Take my idea and run with it. I’m a Democrat, yet here I am giving a Republican who specializes in ugly partisanship and poorly-timed vacations a workable solution in hopes that we can work together to make things better in Texas and, by extension, the United States.

I’m all in, Senator Cruz. I believe if you put forward a workable plan to help Texas solve this national problem President Biden will listen and help with implementation. Let’s stop playing the cynical blame game and actually work to improve life in Texas. Seeing how much time you spend on social media and partisan outlets, you appear to have plenty to time on your hands. What say you?

-B