So this is the father of Senator Cruz, the public face of the government shutdown that cost taxpayers billions and billions of dollars, and his pastor, who few scam artists can rival.
As it happens, good old Rafael has a number of valid points. Most notably, when he is spot on when he talks about the close alliance between the king and the priest: the kings needs the blessing of the priest to win the war, and the priest needs the spoils of war from the king to spread the gospel. A heavenly marriage indeed. Except it doesn’t always end well.
This is one of my favorite historical examples of this kind of relationship between kings and priests: the life of Philip II, king of Spain. It nicely brings together all the elements of the king-priest alliance that Mr Cruz is so fond of.
During Philip’s reign, Spain’s overseas holdings grew as Spaniards conquered the Philippines and founded the colony of St. Augustine in modern-day Florida. By the 1560s, when treasure from the New World had become vital to Philip, fleets were organized to take goods to the Americas and return with silver from the mines in Mexico and Peru. This silver increased Philip’s revenues by at least 20 percent by the 1570s.
Within a few years, Philip’s belief that his life’s mission was to defend and propagate Catholicism led him into a devastating conflict with England’s Queen Elizabeth I, his sister-in-law through his marriage to Queen Mary I.
And of course Philip had his ass handed to him. Philip’s religious adventurism ended in utter humiliation. Not that such minor details would dissuade Mr Cruz.
But what I want to know above all is why a church that is openly politicking is not paying its taxes like the rest of us. The reality is, all of us taxpayers are subsidizing this megachurch and its political actions, whether we happen to agree with its politics or not.
