The GOP’s Rand Paul Moment: He’s smart, he’s interesting, and he represents libertarianism well.

National Review ^ | 06/21/2013 | Rich Lowry

[Don Corleone]

A government totally out of control and in mo way, “Of the people, by the people or for the people.”

[Alex Murphy]

Whatever its merits, the National Security Agency metadata program couldn’t be better fashioned to play into fears of the government. Is it vast? Yes. Secret? Check. Raise profound questions about privacy? Uh-huh. This is the kind of issue Rand Paul was born and (literally) raised to raise holy hell over. The NSA leak came on the heels of revelations that the Internal Revenue Service was singling out tea-party groups for extra scrutiny, and on the heels of the Associated Press and James Rosen investigations. Add in the gun-control fight earlier this year, and Paul is nearly four-for-four in fights sticking up, in his view, for the first four amendments of the Bill of Rights. The only thing missing is the third, because no one has proposed quartering of troops in our homes — yet.

Ping for later

[norwaypinesavage]

"I don’t think there was ever any threat of Americans being droned sitting at cafes"

This sentence alone can explain how far National Review has declined since the days of William F. Buckley. Two Americans have already been struck down by drones while simply riding in automobiles, albeit in foreign countries. The president has already assumed the authority to order the death in of American citizens in automobiles, it's certainly not inconceivable that he might extend that to cafes.

If congress believes it has the obligation to make laws governing my toilet flush volume, the percentage of corn in my automobile fuel tank, the amount of dirt I'm allowed to place in my garden, and the amount of insulation in my attic, it certainly could write laws to govern the extent to which the president is allowed to order the deaths of American citizens in cafes. The president has already demonstrated that he can send the IRS and the NSA after American citizens he disagrees with politically. Drones in US cafes may not be that far behind.

[Maelstorm]

Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee are my absolute favorite GOP at the moment. Lowery misses the point on drones and its something many of us missed post 9-11 and that is its not whether you think something is a threat its whether someone could gain power to make that something a threat. Why would a benevolent government reserve the right to attack citizens with drones even if they are not an immediate threat and monitor indiscriminately turning everyone into a virtual suspect if there is nothing to fear? If security becomes the justification for any level of tyranny then at what point are we not imprisoning ourselves rather than the criminals and terrorists?

[Excellence]

The drones don’t have to drop anything, they can just seek and find and, like the NSA program, find anything of interest as long as they are up there anyway.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Well I like Rich Lowry but he’s another one of the comfortable GOP establishment. He cannot fathom a drone being used to eliminate one of the people on the administration’s enemies list. Wake up Rich.

[justiceseeker93]

At this point in time, after having distanced himself from his father's neo-isolationist foreign policy, Rand Paul is my early choice for GOP presidential candidate in 2016!

Note that he is constitutionally qualified for the presidency, in contrast to several other folks frequently mentioned in the discussion.

[dfwgator]

At least Rand stands for something, unlike the other “Seinfeld” Republicans who stand for nothing.

[cripplecreek]

Give him a minute and he’ll change direction.

[little jeremiah]

Yeah, he stands for amnesty. Deal breaker.

[little jeremiah]

But libertarianism is a significant strand on the right. It should be represented, and represented well. By and large, Rand Paul does that. Underestimate him at your peril.

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The Libertarian Party Platform is “right”? What does the author mean by that? I’m sick of the terms “left” and “right”. The LP platform is certainly at variance with Constituitonal principles in many ways, and debating (if you can call it that) with many libertarians over the years snows me all I need to know about libertarianiams. If they claim they don’t agree with all the LP party platform, then why do they keep calling thesmelves libertarians?

[randita]

As a rule, libertarians are for open borders. No surprise there. They’re also pro-choice and pro-legalization of drugs.

If you’re fiscally conservative and socially liberal, Rand Paul would be right up your alley. He’s his father’s son.

[metafugitive]

Rand Paul like the camera. He like to talk. His record in elected office of doing much other than talking is slim just like his daddy who liked to give lectures but who never accomplished much in office.

Using the Senate as path to White House by talking rather than doing.

Seems like that may have been done before.

[Gene Eric]

>> who stand for nothing.

They actually stand in the way.

Too bad we can’t establish The Gallows Rule that requires at least 80% adherence to the campaign rhetoric that got the candidate elected. /satire

[little jeremiah]

Pro abortion, open borders, pro drugs, pro abortion, pro fag everything - NO THANKS!

[SunkenCiv]

• ---

  I, for one, am for immigration reform. … That being said, I’m worried that the bill before us won’t pass.... [Rand Paul: I hate to say it, but the immigration bill is a little bit like ObamaCare right now ]

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  [Paul open to voting for Senate immigration bill]

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  [Rand Paul: I'm Open to Voting for Immigration Bill]

• ---

  Latinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers... [Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reform]

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• ...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said. [Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance]

• ---

  One day after announcing on his radio show that he is "truly considering" running in 2014 for the U.S. Senate seat now held by New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg, Rivera amped up his message today in a television interview and a column on the Fox News Latino website... a moderate Republican who is fiscally conservative but also supports gay marriage and Roe v. Wade... [Geraldo Rivera declares himself a 'moderate Republican' as he eyes U.S. Senate run]

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[Sun]

If you’re a libertarian, Rand Paul is your guy. But he’s not the guy for conservatives, friend.

[justiceseeker93]

If you’re a libertarian, Rand Paul is your guy. But he’s not the guy for conservatives, friend.

There are a lot of folks here who might describe themselves as conservative-libertarian or libertarian-conservative. There are no exact definitions of either term, because there are differences of opinion within both the libertarian universe and the conservative universe. So a candidate could certainly appeal to both libertarians and conservatives, as did Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan in the past, and as Rand Paul might in 2016. Time will tell.

[Orangedog]

At this point in time, after having distanced himself from his father's neo-isolationist foreign policy...

You might want to reconsider living with his foreign policy since that's going to be the only one the country will be able to afford once the reality of exponential math asserts itself in the next few years. It's not like DC is going to be able to pay to operate a lot of those bases and carrier battle groups once the unsustainable stops.