While he was in Washington, Chris met with the junior Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, prior to his imminent visit to New Hampshire. When he was asked about another potential run by George Romney, Senator Paul gave the governor credit for his effort in 2012, but he feels that time and opportunity have by passed Romney. In his view, the Republican standard bearer will need to attract different constituencies–African-Americans, the younger voters, and/or the Hispanic vote. Same old/same old won’t accomplish getting more votes from those groups. For that reason, he dismisses recycling any of the other former Republican candidates. Of course, Senator Paul believes that he is a candidate with a strong new car smell who can attract these new voters to the GOP. He will be doing a variety of appearances in the Granite State this week. Paul feels at home in New Hampshire. The state’s live free or die motto fits well with his libertarian message of smaller government and individual freedom.
As we start the new year, there are big changes in the makeup of the Senate. The senior senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, has replaced Harry Reid as the Senate Majority Leader. Senator Paul believes that this is an opportunity for the Republicans to change the way things have been done in recent years. They should try to make some progress with the major problems like the ever-increasing debt. He pointed out that we borrow a million dollars a minute to pay for it. Paul also complained about the former majority’s practice of putting up 2000 page bills for a vote without discussion or being read. He has urged his caucus to vote for all of the individual appropriation bills. These bills would come with detailed instructions on to spend or not spend the money. The senator is also concerned with government waste such as a million dollar study to determine if male fruit flies prefer younger female fruit flies.
The senator also spoke about the rights of minorities. He reminded us that the Bill of Rights is there to protect unpopular speech. Senator Paul cautioned people who are worried about terrorism that everyone is entitled to equal protection and due process. He also feels that our legal system and prisons need to be reformed. Senator Paul believes that there shouldn’t be such a disproportionate number of poor and minorities in the system. He favors fairer sentencing for crimes such as low level drug dealing. In addition, Paul would look at prison reform for fiscal reasons. he would favor reduced sentencing for less serious crimes and having the prisoners work more in order to defray costs.
The last part of the interview dealt with Senator Paul’s views on foreign policy. His first priority is national defense. He would be in favor of developing a defense force which has high technical ability and rapid response capabilities. As far as US intervention in foreign disputes are concerned, the senator believes that there is a spectrum that ranges from the United States being involved in every situation to total isolation on the other end. He believes that he is somewhere in the middle–intervene when we have to. He considers ISIS to be a threat to us in Iraq. However, he is against using American ground troops. The Kurds, Iraqis, Saudis, and other countries should fight to stop this menace in their region. he also believes that “civilized” Islam should rise up against ISIS because this group does not represent their religion.
