But for all his advertised “commitment” to the conservative cause, Cruz’s approach seems like a xerox of a fax from the 1980s, on which he has drawn some cursory scribblings. We have been told over and over how smart and intellectual Ted Cruz is, by professors like Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz and Princeton’s Robert George. But where is the evidence of fresh thinking, of applying conservative principles to existing problems?

Take health care. Cruz has put a ton of his energy into defeating ObamaCare. He quixotically shut down the government over this issue last fall. But for all the great intellectual firepower said to reside in Cruz, his policy ideas on health care amount to this: raising the eligibility age for Medicare, tax credits, and a promise to “throw my body in front of a train” to stop ObamaCare. Good luck with that.

Do you like Cruz? Then I have a disclaimer. I have idiosyncratic views on presidential candidates. I supported Ron Paul in 2008, and was sympathetic to Jon Huntsman in 2012. Other than the Huntsman thing, I’m a black-banners reactionary. Cruz had never made much of an impression on me, until he trolled a conference of Christians raising awareness of persecution in the Middle East. Perhaps Cruz is simply being wise and he is simply advertising his loyalties now in a run-up to the primary. Once he captures a base of voters he’ll unveil creative, vote-attracting, and constructive policies. But he hasn’t yet. And I just don’t believe he will.