A group of musicians calling themselves "We Are Watchmen" released a hip-hop song Wednesday in which they declared they are "all in" for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is running for president in 2016.
The performers describe themselves on their website as part of a "movement that uses music and message to mobilize American Christians to civic duty."
Their song makes an appeal to conservative values like limited government and personal responsibility, but it also busts fresh rhymes while doing so: "When power is concentrated centrally and federally / It creates dependency that's medically like leprosy / Our heredity and pedigree is liberty intrepidly / Moral individuals and family's the recipe."
The We Are Watchmen site -- which was created on April 29, according to a Whois.net search -- does a decent job of satisfying Godwin's Law. Citing an unsubstantiated story from an anti-abortion activist, the group argues that a majority of American churches have become complacent in the face of cultural decadence, in much the same way that German Christians allegedly ignored evidence of the Holocaust as it was happening. (Again: It's not clear what, if anything, this account of history is based on.)
Just as many churches in Germany sang louder on Sunday mornings to drown out the sounds of wailing Jews in boxcars on the way to the concentration camps, the majority of pulpits and pews in the American churches have been willfully ignoring the stench of blatant evil rising in this once godly nation.
OK, then.
"If you're conservative, then prove it," the group tells voters in the song. "Set it on fire." The Watchmen evidently hope that with a catchy hook and enough references to the Federal Reserve, they may be able to ignite the "Reagan Revolution part two."
Cruz publicly declared his candidacy in a speech at Liberty University in Virginia on March 23. There is no indication that Cruz has any affiliation with We Are Watchmen.
It's unclear whether Cruz is even a fan of hip-hop. In March, he told CBS News that he grew up listening to classic rock but switched to country music after Sept. 11.
Before You Go
It’s not a proposal that is likely to resonate with Latinos. In a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project, some 75 percent of Hispanics favored a bigger government that provides more services over a smaller one that provided fewer services. Only 41 percent of the general population, by contrast, favored a larger government that provided more services.
But for many Latinos, climate change is a major concern. A poll carried out in February by The New York Times, Stanford University and the research group Resources for the Future found that 63 percent of Latinos favor action by the federal government to address climate change, compared to just 49 percent of non-Hispanic whites.
But while Obamacare may not be overwhelmingly popular among Latino voters, it’s also not as reviled as it is by the hyper-conservative Cruz, who appears likely to make repealing the ACA a the centerpiece of his campaign.
The Latino community, on the other hand, tends to support gay marriage. Some 59 percent of Hispanic voters said their state should recognize same-sex marriages, according to a 2012 exit poll.
Hispanic voters, however, tend to favor keeping abortion legal. Some 66 percent of Latino respondents in the 2012 exit poll said abortion should be legal, according to ABC News.
That position is, once again, out of step with most the views of most Latino voters. A Pew study from 2014 found that 62 percent of Hispanics favor controlling gun ownership over protect gun rights.