By now, you’ve heard the biggest conspiracy theory of the 2016 election: Senator Ted Cruz from Texas is the infamous Zodiac Killer.
This started after Cruz gave a speech entitled: “This is the Zodiac Speaking,” at the Conservative Political Actions Conference in 2013
The meme took on a life of its own in late 2015. It’s spawned a Facebook page, Chrome extension. and Twitter profile; even the website www.zodiackiller.com redirects to Ted Cruz’s campaign site. In a poll of Florida voters, 38% were open to the idea that Cruz could be the Zodiac Killer.
Some people have used this story for good; Tim Faust created Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer t-shirts to raise money for abortion clinics in Texas and has raised over $70,000.
So, is Ted Cruz the Zodiac Killer?
While Ted Cruz hasn’t officially denied it, the murders took place in Northern California in the 1960s. Cruz wasn’t born until 1970, so unless you’re a big believer in reincarnation, he’s not the one.
Now you might be wondering: What’s wrong with claiming that Ted Cruz is the Zodiac?
It’s not a free speech issue, we live in a democracy and you can say what you like about Ted Cruz. However, this meme is distracting people from the real threat Cruz poses to America if he’s elected.
The more #ZodiacTed posts on social media, the less attention he gets for terrible policies that should legitimately scare any Democrat.
Ted Cruz is the Human Rights Killer
Ted Cruz wants to restrict women’s reproductive choices. Most abortion clinics in his home state of Texas have closed and Cruz would only allow abortion if the pregnancy endangered the woman’s life. After the November attack on Planned Parenthood in Colorado, Cruz stated that most violent criminals are Democrats.
He doesn’t just want to restrict a woman’s right to healthcare, though, because that would be sexist. He wants to restrict everyone’s access by repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Cruz opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions because he believes in the narrow biblical definition of marriage as one man and one woman. He’d reverse the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision and leave the issue to individual states.
He believes in the Death Penalty so strongly that in 2008 he fought for Texas’s right to ignore orders from The International Court of Justice. These orders were to re-examine the convictions of Mexican nationals on Death Row.
It’s not just the murder of international citizens in his own country that Cruz is blasé about. He takes a hardline stance on immigration, including the Syrian refugees, and in the 2012 election, he wanted to build a wall along the Mexican border.
Ted Cruz is the Economy Killer
He supports a flat tax to simplify the tax return process for many Americans. It sounds good but would result in a billionaire paying the same rate of tax as a teacher. This would decrease the budget and lead to huge cuts in government programs that would disproportionately affect the working class.
If you really want to make Cruz go viral try these; #TedCruzIsTheEnvironmentKiller, #TedCruzIsTheEducationKiller or #TedCruzIsTheElection2016Killer.
Featured image via Wiki Commons by laurencriv under a Creative Commons 4.0 license.
