Posted on 03/10/2014 4:35:26 PM PDT by Mariner
On Saturday, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference by a landslide for the second consecutive year. Conservative firebrand Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came in second, but he actually gained the most ground of any candidate year-over-year.
On Sunday, Cruz began making a play to draw foreign policy distinctions between himself and Paul, both of whom are considered two of the GOP's top presidential prospects.
"I'm a big fan of Rand Paul. He and I are good friends," Cruz said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. "I don't agree with him on foreign policy. I think U.S. leadership is critical in the world. And I agree with him that we should be very reluctant to deploy military force abroad. But I think there is a vital role, just as Ronald Reagan did. ... The United States has a responsibility to defend our values."
Cruz's comments came two days after Paul thrilled the CPAC audience by blasting President Barack Obama's drone policy. However, Paul didn't mention the preeminent ongoing geopolitical conflict — the crisis in Ukraine.
Paul's noninterventionist views on foreign policy have attracted a libertarian-leaning crowd. In the CPAC straw poll, 57 percent of respondents, when asked about the U.S.'s "role in the world," identified with this statement: "N early 70 years after the end of World War II, it's time for our European, Asian and other allies to provide for their own defense."
Only 37 percent, on the other hand, agreed with this statement: " As the world's only superpower, the U.S. needs to continue to bear the responsibility of protecting our allies in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I would also make the penalty for hiring an illegal 10 years in a Federal Prison, without parole...for each instance the law was violated.
No schooling, no food stamps, no medical care, no bank accounts no license.
Each that is encountered will be deported within 24hrs to the other side of the wall. Any who resist should be shot.
But I'm not a conservative according to you. And, obviously not good enough to vote for a Republican.
You kind of glossed over it.
“gay marriage in the military and for federal employees, and in immigration, and abortion for the military”
We need to elect conservatives to defeat that, libertarians support that left wing agenda.
I believe most of the “little l” libertarians here on FR could more accurately be described as “big C” constitutionalists, like myself. I don’t claim republicanism any more. The party has left me, not the other way around. The GOPe is WAY left of representing me... So, I’m not sure what your issue is with those of us HERE who believe in constitutionally limited government and states rights, but seriously... We agree on more than you might suspect, and I’m certainly NOT against conservatism.
So you disagree with the libertarian position on the border, that alone doesn’t make you conservative.
Do you want to know what the libertarian position on the border is?
We're in this damn mess because we allowed the Federal Government to define what marriage is.
The Feds have no role there. None.
End all of the tax breaks...whatever they have on the books that references it, and we'll be a lot better off.
Yup. I think conservatives have already lost the battle for ideological purity. if conservatives are to win politically, they’re going to have to tolerate some level of libertarian thought within their midst.
The big l little game is a a child’s game, conservatives just call themselves conservative.
We all know what people mean when they call themselves libertarian, it means they are to the left of conservatives, and are against much of it.
You are still glossing over it.
Glossing over abortion for federal employees on federal land, glossing over the fact that the feds also have to make law regarding marriage for the military, federal employment and immigration, and have, since at least 1780.
They also have to make law on gay issues in the military etc.
Yeah there's no doubt he was a scumbag.
But I don't think that's those are the sole criteria by which you would judge a conservative.
If it were you could vote for a Democrat that held those positions, and some do.
He ran pro abortion ads? I didn't know that.
I agree with all that you said. And, I must say, I do not trust Paul, mainly because of his amnesty shenanigans, but I agree with this statement:
“N early 70 years after the end of World War II, it’s time for our European, Asian and other allies to provide for their own defense.”
I don't trust any of the bastards.
None of them are worthy of our trust.
At most we hire them to do a job and we have to be ready to fire them when they fail.
pretty skilled at defining other peoples views are you?
I call myself libertarian leaning, not out of ignorance, but because I believe very strongly in personal liberty and personal responsibility, the way God made us. I’ve yet to see anyone show how or where that conflicts with conservatism.
Of course Paul won. He punted on Ukraine. And he didn’t mention his support for illegal alien amnesty.
Would not have mattered. He packed the house.
That straw poll was worthless except as a silly joke.
That said he'll have a good showing in the primaries.
As they all are.
There is only one person who shares my views 100%, and I’m not running....
Therefore, I’m going to have some budging to do, but not on certain issues. We all have “certain” issues, hence the internecine argument that must occur. If all we do is snipe at the differences, we’ll never see the similarities. Next thing you know, {Wham!} we have a National Socialist in the White Hut.
Being 30+ months out from the election, lets not get into a big fight over conservative candidates. I’m not going to trash Paul, Cruz, Palin, Walker or Carson until things shake out. And not even then. Hopefully one of these candidates will move to the point where we can beat the establishment RINO.
Thanks for that post. I couldn’t believe what I was reading in previous postings.
The feds used to have a perfectly good law/regulation on homos. It was called "Don't ask, don't tell".
As for all the elements associated with marriage they could just as easily re-word to "dependents".
As for abortion, it's murder and should be prosecuted as such.
Every time.
Even if one of your or my family members gets sucked into it.
The doctor, all who provide material support...and the prospective mother.
Every time.
LOL, you didn’t say anything, that was just the usual libber chant.
I can post the details of how the libbers define “personal liberty and personal responsibility” from the border to abortion, gay marriage, homosexuals in the military and much more.
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