Senator Ted Cruz

Look, I think it varies state by state, but I think when you have a welfare state where you get paid for not working, people end up not working. And the statistics are really crushing that if anyone doesn't work for a year, the odds of their going back to the workforce drop precipitously. That once someone gets the habit of dependency, I've said a bunch of times,

You know, I try to think of every policy from the perspective of easing the means of ascent up the economic ladder. And I think about, you know, my dad when he was a teenage kid in Austin washing dishes. Thank God some well-meaning liberal didn't come to him and say, Raphael, let me take care of you.

You know, I try to think of every policy from the perspective of easing the means of ascent up the economic ladder. And I think about, you know, my dad when he was a teenage kid in Austin washing dishes. Thank God some well-meaning liberal didn't come to him and say, Raphael, let me take care of you.

Just stay home. Let me send you a government check. Don't work so hard. And it's utterly destructive. It breaks your self-respect, your individual responsibility.

Just stay home. Let me send you a government check. Don't work so hard. And it's utterly destructive. It breaks your self-respect, your individual responsibility.

And you're right that much of it is not from ill will. But we do need to have a real conversation about what works to lift people into prosperity. And by the way, all of us know this in our own life. If you're a kid, let's say you have a kindergartner who's struggling with math. there's not a one of us who would do our kids' math homework. We know that's not helping them.

And you're right that much of it is not from ill will. But we do need to have a real conversation about what works to lift people into prosperity. And by the way, all of us know this in our own life. If you're a kid, let's say you have a kindergartner who's struggling with math. there's not a one of us who would do our kids' math homework. We know that's not helping them.

That if your daughter doesn't learn to do arithmetic, it's gonna hurt her for the rest of her life. So you've gotta work through that problem with her, even if it'd be easier for you just to finish it for her. We know that in our lives. The old adage of give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

That if your daughter doesn't learn to do arithmetic, it's gonna hurt her for the rest of her life. So you've gotta work through that problem with her, even if it'd be easier for you just to finish it for her. We know that in our lives. The old adage of give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

We know that with people we love, but yet when it comes to public policy, You have a lot of people who don't think about it more broadly. I'll say back in 2017, I did three different CNN town hall debates with Bernie Sanders. And listen, I like Bernie because he is an unapologetic socialist and I'm an unapologetic capitalist.

We know that with people we love, but yet when it comes to public policy, You have a lot of people who don't think about it more broadly. I'll say back in 2017, I did three different CNN town hall debates with Bernie Sanders. And listen, I like Bernie because he is an unapologetic socialist and I'm an unapologetic capitalist.

And we had 90-minute town hall debates on which system was better for maximizing human prosperity and abundance. And we didn't insult each other. Neither of us called each other a son of a bitch. We talked about the facts. And I'll point out something. Let's take socialized medicine. It's interesting. The advocates of socialized medicine, when I pointed out,

And we had 90-minute town hall debates on which system was better for maximizing human prosperity and abundance. And we didn't insult each other. Neither of us called each other a son of a bitch. We talked about the facts. And I'll point out something. Let's take socialized medicine. It's interesting. The advocates of socialized medicine, when I pointed out,

all of the problems socialized medicine produces in every country in which it's been implemented, the United Kingdom, Canada. Bernie's answer was, well, it wouldn't be that way here. So the reality would not be here. Every year, about 50,000 Canadians come to America on what they call medical tourism because they can't get the medical care they need in Canada.

all of the problems socialized medicine produces in every country in which it's been implemented, the United Kingdom, Canada. Bernie's answer was, well, it wouldn't be that way here. So the reality would not be here. Every year, about 50,000 Canadians come to America on what they call medical tourism because they can't get the medical care they need in Canada.

And I will suggest to you a question, particularly for those of y'all that are Californians, that I love asking advocates of socialized medicine. Why doesn't California adopt it? You've got a Democrat governor. You've got a Democrat supermajority legislature. There's no constitutional impediment. California could adopt socialized medicine today.

And I will suggest to you a question, particularly for those of y'all that are Californians, that I love asking advocates of socialized medicine. Why doesn't California adopt it? You've got a Democrat governor. You've got a Democrat supermajority legislature. There's no constitutional impediment. California could adopt socialized medicine today.

It's not the mean old Republicans that are stopping them. And as you know, the legislature looked at it and realized it would bankrupt them. By the way, Vermont, Bernie's home state, they could adopt it. And the reason you don't see California or New York or Illinois or Vermont or any blue state in America adopt socialized medicine. It wouldn't work.

It's not the mean old Republicans that are stopping them. And as you know, the legislature looked at it and realized it would bankrupt them. By the way, Vermont, Bernie's home state, they could adopt it. And the reason you don't see California or New York or Illinois or Vermont or any blue state in America adopt socialized medicine. It wouldn't work.

It wouldn't work and people would flee their state. And so their answer is, we want to do it to everyone in the entire country so you can't flee. Unless you're willing to leave America, you're stuck.