What has Rand Paul done?
One of my readers recently replied to me that he had been a Rand Paul supporter but really couldn’t see what Rand had done that was consistent with what he talks about.
Here’s a recent campaign speech, given in Boise, Idaho, about 2 weeks ago, August 27th:
After watching Rand’s speech, I noticed a comment from viewer “Nate Dawg”. I was rather impressed and, after some fact-checking, editing, personalizing and adding a few links, I am happy to answer my reader’s concerns:
Is Rand Paul really a consistent and principled liberty lover? Let’s take a look at his history in the senate:
- Introduced a 5-year balanced budget by cutting spending and not raising taxes.
- Filibustered for 13 hours to stop Obama/Holder’s illegal drone strikes on Americans – and succeeded.
- Filibustered for 11 hours to kill the PATRIOT Act – and succeeded.
- Sued the Obama Administration/Justice Department for illegally collecting all Americans’ phone records, as they are still doing under the so-called FREEDOM Act.
- Consistently advocates for social issues to be left to the states, just as his father did.
- Only Senate Republican who opposed the efforts to bomb Syria in late 2014.
- Opposed the US-funded war in Libya.
- Detailed specific plans to form a coalition with Kurds, Turks, and Iraqis to defeat ISIS without ever putting U.S. boots on the ground.
- Introduced sweeping criminal justice reform legislation (knows how to actually work with the other side).
- Introduced groundbreaking legislation in the Senate that would begin to tear down the, totally failed, War on Drugs, making marijuana a schedule 2 drug (allows vital research to be done on THC and CBD, as well as reduces the penalties for possession), and allowing medical marijuana and recreational marijuana in states that legalize it.
- His plans for making social security and other entitlements solvent are crystal clear, phasing in raising the age of eligibility and means tests for wealthier recipients. (This would solve the massive deficit coming out of SS and, most likely, lead to privatization in the form of personal accounts, which is a good thing.)
- Released a detailed tax plan that would massively reduce the corporate tax rate (ours is the highest IN THE WORLD at 35%) and the personal rate to a flat 14.5% with a family of four, making less than $50K paying nothing. (Not the “Fair Tax”, which I support, but still a “radical” plan, clearly laid out.)
- Consistent top ratings from all three major gun rights advocates groups (NRA, GOA NAGR).
- Rated as “the most conservative candidate” with a, “10C” conservative record (the highest available and higher than Ted Cruz), AND is rated better than ALL the major Democratic candidates, when it comes to Civil Liberty issues.
- Opposed the Iraq Invasion of 2003 (this was before he was elected to the Senate).
- And, last but not least, he has some fun in the process.
This is a direct quote from Nate Dawg:
“He’s not perfect, nobody is. But he’s exactly what this country needs. Not another charlatan hurling vague, vitriolic rhetoric at anyone who challenges him, but a clear-minded, sober, logical problem-solver who presents common-sense solutions to systemic issues.”
I, whole-heartedly, agree. And, Rand Paul’s actions line up pretty darn clearly with his talk…
EDITORS NOTE: Please click here for Tad MacKie’s YouTube page.