To be sure, Ted Cruz isn’t the first patriotic American to put on a plaid shirt and genuflect at the altar of Rousseau’s ruralism. Why do you suppose Boston-born Ben Franklin, while attempting to woo the French to the American cause, donned a coonskin cap?

But whether an agrarian society is morally superior, or not, population trends have (for a long time, now) been moving toward urbanization.

It is perfectly understandable why a politician hoping to woo Iowa caucusgoers would want to pander to the rural base of the GOP.

It is less understandable why a movement hoping to win the 21st century would abide.