“We need a Republican Party that shows up on the South side of Chicago and shouts at the top of our lungs, ‘We are the party of jobs and opportunity! The GOP is the ticket to the middle class.” — Rand Paul
US Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is out of the mainstream for Washington and for the country.
He is a libertarian who embraces real compromise, something terribly lacking in the national capital. He is a "wacko bird" who insults Beltway Establishment types because he does not do what the party leaders tell him to do.
Unlike his elder or more stodgy colleagues, he does not filibuster with one phone call from one thousand miles away. To block the appointment of CIA Director nominee John Brennan, Paul talked for thirteen hours, demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder at least explain whether President Obama would have the authority to use unmanned drones on American citizens while on American soil.
"The Daily Show" Jon Stewart supported Rand Paul, a unique turn of events, considering that Stewart is an unapologetic liberal who skewers Republicans and conservatives more than "the other side". The Twitter-verse went ablaze with rallying support for Paul, who stood for the thirteen hours with some assists from other Tea Party Republicans, including Texas US Senator Ted Cruz and Florida's Marco Rubio. Even a Democrat, Robert Wyden of Oregon, joined the filibuster to protest President Obama's tacit approval of drone strikes on anyone.
Paul wants to defederalize controlled substances. He wants to give the states more power and authority over their own government and financial responsibilities. He supported the STEM Jobs Act, which the House passed with no support from the Senate. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math cohorts in universities include remarkable people from foreign countries. They should not be prevented from getting VISAs and expedited citizenship into the country.
Paul wants to end foreign aid to all foreign countries, including nation-states which resist or at least remain hostile to American foreign policy and a global balance of power based on respect for individual rights, free markets, and free enterprise.
The Kentucky Senator is also the first Republican leader in years who mentioned the people of Chicago at CPAC (specifically, this past month) — the Conservative Political Action Conference — who steps up the need for Republican leaders to reach out to all constituencies, including the South Side, where poverty, crime, and gang elements are taking a city with great history and opportunity in the wrong direction.
Paul's shout-out is long-overdue from Republican leaders:
“We need a Republican Party that shows up on the South side of Chicago and shouts at the top of our lungs, ‘We are the party of jobs and opportunity! The GOP is the ticket to the middle class.” — Rand Paul
Democratic policies "help" poor people. Republican policies help poor people not be poor. Democratic policies under President Obama have expanded dependence on the state, with an unprecedented 43 million Americans on food-stamps. Healthcare has become harder to access and afford, not easier, under President Obama's"Affordable Care Act", otherwise known as ObamaCare.
Democrats' taxes on "the rich" have ended up becoming taxes on the poor. President Obama has become a divider, not a uniter, and his attempt to rewrite the proper workings of government has created an inhospitable climate of hyperpartisanship in Washington.
People everywhere deserve to be free, and the libertarian-leaning Republican Senator from Kentucky is shouting out for Chicago residents of all backgrounds. It's time that city leaders started paying attention!