Tag Archives: Rand Paul

Rand Paul – Howard University

Rand Paul

Rand Paul spoke at Howard University.  I’ve just listened to the speech, more on that later.  I was struck by his response to one of the student’s questions regarding voter ID:

 I think it’s important in the history to know what happened.  Democrats in the south were very very harsh.  Almost all democrats, okay?  That’s who ran the governments.  And they DID have tests at the polls literacy tests and special tests.  And  guess what, if you were white and forward you didn’t have to do the test but if you were black you had to do the test and you didn’t pass the test.  People were scared and intimidated and prevented from voting.

I think if you liken using a drivers license to literacy tests, you demean the horror  of what happened in the 40’s and 50’s.  Maybe from 1910 all the way through 1960’s in the south.  It was horrific.  NOBODY is in favor of that, NO republican is in favor of that.  But showing your drivers license to have an honest election I think is not unreasonable.  And I think that is the main thing republicans have been for.

Again, I think the democrat position that election laws being racist is an example of racism today.  You have a political movement, an ideology, using race as a lever to gain advantage for themselves.

Well said!

Rand Paul: Values

Rand Paul

Look, you might like more government rather than less.  Perhaps you like more guns than less.  Taxes on the rich?  More money on the less fortunate?

Let’s debate that.  Earnestly and honestly.

But honestly.

And when you are living the line and walking the walk, walk it like this:

(CNN) – Sen. Rand Paul cut another six-figure check to the United States Treasury Wednesday, taking the money he said he didn’t need from his office’s budget to make a tiny dent in the nation’s massive federal debt.

“We watch every purchase,” Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said at an event next to an oversized check for $600,000. “We watch what computers we buy, what paper we buy, the ink cartridges. We treat the money like it’s our money, or your money, and we look at every expenditure.”

The $600,000 reflects more than 20% of Paul’s annual office budget, according to a press release.

Last year Paul returned $500,000 to the Treasury, and said he hoped other members of Congress would follow his cost-cutting lead. In total, Paul’s office says they’ve returned $1.1 million that was unspent from his office’s operating budget.

Rand.  Ayn Rand.  A little weird, sure.  But the dude’s living the lesson.

Dysfunction of Government

Look, I like Rand Paul.  I resonate with much of what he says.  And this even more so.

Ignore the comments about term limits – I can go back and forth on that one.  Just listen to his comments on how the Fiscal Cliff Senate legislation was passed.

No printed bill.

Made available online at 01:36.

Voted on at 01:39.

Partisan politics aside, there is no earthly way that an argument can be made that this is an example of how we want legislation debated, written, studied and then voted on.

No way.

This Is What Rand Paul Means: Chic-fil-A

Preceding his election to the senate, Rand Paul got himself into some hot water for his take on parts of the Civil Rights legislation.  I’m paraphrasing, but what he basically said was that “It shouldn’t be illegal for people to be ignorant.”

Private citizens should be allowed to associate with who ever they choose.  While he emphasized that he found discrimination horrible, he claimed that society would deal with them appropriately.

I think that this is a perfect example of what he meant:

BOSTON –  The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company’s president spoke out publicly against gay marriage.

Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he doesn’t want a business in the city “that discriminates against a population.”

Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press this week that his privately owned company is “guilty as charged” in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family.

The fast-food chicken sandwich chain later said that it strives to “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has more than 1,600 stores nationwide but just two in Massachusetts, both located in suburban malls.

Perfect.

 

The Filibuster

I saw a graphic the other day that said this congress passed the fewest new laws in what, 40 years?  To some this represents “gridlock” in congress and is emblematic of the troubles we’re facing in an increasingly partisan world.  To me this is a feature.

Whatever the case, there is the belief that much of this inability to pass laws is as a result of the republicans penchant for the filibuster.  The procedural requirement that a bill obtain 60 votes to allow it to be voted on.  In other words, the bill really requires not a majority of the senate, but what can be construed as a SUPER majority.

Personally I’ve never been much of a fan of the filibuster.  The idea that a group of individuals can hold up the workings of the senate seems to me to be rather — well, childish.  The feeling i have for the filibuster is the same I felt as we watched Wisconsin play out.  First the democrat fled the state, escaping the reach of the law by the way, so as to prevent a vote on Governor Walkers budget bill that would have stripped the public unions of much of their ability to collectively bargain.  Then we watched as the state’s democrats forced a recall election for each senator and the governor.

Babies all.

So I resonate with the dislikers of the filibuster.  And I even acknowledge the increase in use of the procedure since Obama has take office and the republicans are in the minority.

What I don’t know is how often THIS happens:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday blocked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) from attaching an amendment to the farm bill that would withhold U.S. aid to Pakistan.

Reid asked for unanimous consent Tuesday to consider a batch of five amendments to the farm bill, the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S.3240), but Paul objected, arguing that his amendment on withholding aid to Pakistan should also be included.

In response, Reid performed a procedural move called “filling the tree,” or taking up all the amendment space, to keep Paul’s amendment from being considered.

Now, this is pretty “inside baseball” and even THIS whole series of events is questionable.  However, that’s how work gets done in the halls of the senate.  And if the Leader is going to prevent a silly procedure by the use of another silly procedure then he should not be surprised, or outraged, when THAT silly procedure is counter by the silly procedure we call the filibuster.

 

Rand Paul, Right To Health Care And Slavery

What does it mean to have a Right?  What is Liberty?

The answer to that question is fundamental to our nation; to how we see ourselves not only in this world, but in this creation.

What is it that we have a Right to?  What thing, what state of being, do we own simply by being alive?  What is it that is ours BEFORE the state? What is that thing, or group of things, that belongs to us not because of the state, but in spite of the state?

For me, that answer is simple.  It’s me.  My own self.  THAT is mine before the state.

And who would argue that defending myself, legally or forcefully, is not my right?

I am sovereign to myself.  I belong to me and my labor belongs to me.

Men erect governments not to reduce this natural or divine state of being, but to protect it.  We create relationships to assist in that protection.  We do not enter into a bond to reduce those things, but to enhance those things.  In short, it is the role of the state to maximize my sovereign right to myself; my Liberty.

In that context, I do NOT have a right to running water.  Rather, I have the right to expect water to be provided in the event I enter into a legally binding contract to procure that water for an agreed upon price.

So, know that we know what the state Ought do, does this make better sense?

Continue reading

Memo To Tea Party: Add Sugar and Cream

2010 saw the power of people.  For the first time we saw strong, committed conservatives take to the streets.  The movement grew from individual to individual.  All of America was swept up as everyday Americans gathered arm in arm to protest bad policy, bad politics and bad politicians.

And it worked.    Scott Brown in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia in 2009.  And, of course, the massive statement made this past November.

It’s clear, America capital “L” loves Tea!

Continue reading