Posted on 06/18/2015 7:11:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The senator from Kentucky continues to takes the road less traveled through the GOP primaries.
Sen. Rand Paul took a risk Thursday. Speaking to an audience of religious conservatives in the wake of a racially charged shooting in South Carolina, Paul delicately suggested that Republicans might want to start focusing on other parts of the Bill of Rights than the Second Amendment.
"Everybody is for the Second Amendment. All 55 candidates running for president are for the Second Amendment—on our side," Paul told the crowd. "But the thing is that a lot of young people, that might not be their primary issue."
Leaving room, even rhetorical room, to one's right—particularly on an issue as important to the Republican base as gun rights—is a gamble in the crowded 2016 GOP primary. But it's one very much in keeping with the Kentucky senator's campaign of almost-gonzo optimism, and it's the type of decision backed by Paul's personal conviction that his libertarian philosophy can unite traditional Republican voters with more independent-minded young people and minorities.
Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition summit, Paul's remarks also mentioned the Wednesday night shooting that killed nine black church congregants in Charleston, South Carolina.
"We had the shooting this morning in South Carolina. What kind of person goes in a church and shoots nine people? There's a sickness in our country. There's something terribly wrong, but it isn't going to be fixed by your government. It's people straying away, it's people not understanding where salvation comes from. And I think that if we understand that, we'll understand and have better expectations of what we get from our government."
Paul's discussion of the Second Amendment was only a snippet of a longer and broader speech, much of which focused on religious liberty and, in particular, Paul's efforts to defend Christians overseas. He touted an amendment in which he proposed to cut off foreign aid to countries that persecute Christians, and said it was a sign of Washington's disconnect from the country that it was voted down in committee by a wide margin.
The speech was sandwiched in between those of his Senate colleagues and fellow presidential contenders, Marco Rubio (who did not mention the Charleston shooting in his speech) and Ted Cruz (who spoke of the event and began his remarks with a moment of silence). As part of his quest to distinguish himself from his GOP competitors while not alienating base voters, Paul emphasized his record of visiting black communities in Washington, Baltimore, and Chicago.
Polling suggests Paul's gauge of young people's enthusiasm about guns is accurate. A 2013 Pew poll found that just 16 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds own a gun, compared to 24 percent of the total population. A 2013 Harvard University study found that young people are split in their opinion about the National Rifle Association.
But young people don't tend to vote in the Republican presidential primaries. At one point in the 2012 election, CBS found that white evangelicals made up half of Republican primary and caucus voters.
And therein lies Paul's big challenge: He's trying to win the White House by reaching well past the Republican base, but if he can't win over enough of the party's base in the primary, his general election aspirations will be over long before they ever begin.
Love it! You beat Diogenese to it this time...
Oh, wait, speaking of which...where is he?
Right, just those too...and yes, Cruz is so establishment. I must have missed that memo.
But, hey, I guess Walker, Rubio, Perry, Fiorina, Trump, Carson, Huck and Jeb were establishment in past weeks.
Must be hard to find someone 100% like you.
So its necessary to devalue the 2d amendment to persuade the reps to value the others? If that’s his meaning he’s a much poorer communicator that I have seen him to be.
I wonder, is anybody telling Hillary not to focus on gun control?
Mr. Soros bought everyone Pizza Uno, Cronuts and Zima. You can’t expect him to miss that, can you?
He didn’t say devalue, you did. He said “move beyond”. Admittedly that can be taken in more that one way, which is why context is important. From reading the whole statement, it’s clear he means talking about the other amendments that are important also, and also endangered.
Sadly you’re more right than I want to admit.
I'm non-negotiable when it comes to RKBA issues but I see where Paul is going with this. He's right. I'm not terribly worried, at this moment, about Democrats jumping back on the losing gun control bandwagon. Even after Sandy Hook, with Dems controlling the Senate, gun control efforts failed. That doesn't mean I'll lose vigilance on the issue.
Paul is trying to appeal to younger voters who care more about privacy rights than guns. Perhaps this is because the gun control battles of the 90s have already been won and younger voters don't see the 2A as threatened as some of us old-timers remember. When you think about it, RKBA is the one social issue that conservatives have prevailed at.
There's other Amendments that need to be fought for just as strongly as the Second. Too many people aren't reading past the headlines.
I'm not worried about a potential President Paul taking my guns away.
Might be another reason as well: Guns cost money, and older people have more of it.
Yep. He has talked about the 4th, 6th & 8th amendments alot lately and how they are being abused.
I am as big a 2A guy as anyone, but I certainly can’t fault him for speaking out in defense of our other rights. And if he brings disaffected voters into the big GOP tent, I have nothing wrong with that either.
Paul is just not my favorite cup of tea. Nevertheless I trust NO Politician when it comes to gun rights. It is the only measure of Sovereignty we have left.
Molon labe.
BCR?
Ping!
Rand Paul goes off the Reservation on the 2nd Amendment!
Hey, they’ve already been moving right beyond the most important aspects of the US Constitution (you know, separation of powers, legislation starting in the House, Congress controlling spending).
That pesky little Bill O’Rights is just an obnoxious little drunk they need to ditch at this point.
Rand Paul On Shutdown: "Even Though It Appeared I Was Participating In It, It Was A Dumb Idea"I said throughout the whole battle that shutting down the government was a dumb idea. Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea. And the reason I voted for it, though, is that it's a conundrum. Here's the conundrum. We have a $17 trillion debt and people at home tell me you can't give the president a blank check. We just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without conditions. So unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that and I can't vote for that. But the conundrum is if I don't we do approach these deadlines. So there is an impasse. In 2011, though, we had this impasse and the president did negotiate. We got the sequester. If we were to extend the sequester from discretionary spending to all the entitlements we would actually fix our problem within a few years.[Posted on 11/19/2013 12:16:51 PM by Third Person]
Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance...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.[Posted on 01/31/2013 5:08:50 PM PST by xzins]
Rand Paul's immigration speech...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.
Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.
Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.
If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...
This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.
Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reformLatinos, 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...[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]
Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt's Generals: 'How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?'Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. [by "anti-government activists" is meant church-burning Christian-murdering jihadists][Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat]
So? Screw them, then.
Fortunately, politicians of both stripes have learned painful lessons when it comes to taking away gun rights. Which is why today, barely 24 hours after yet another mass shooting, you're hearing only lukewarm platitudes about "doing something" out of Washington.
And by "doing something" they mean hand-wringing for a couple of weeks until we forget about it.
We've gained a lot of ground on RKBA issues. We need to remain ever vigilant on maintaining these victories. Now it is time to reclaim the rest of the Bill of Rights. That's what Senator Paul is saying.
“So? Screw them, then.”
Yeah! Who cares if they want privacy or a fair legal system! Screw em!
It’s the Second Amendment that guarantees all of those other freedoms.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.