GOP Presidential candidate Rand Paul joined Chris Ryan, Dean Spiliotes and Charlie Arlinghaus for the Pints and Politics: Road to the White House series at The Barley House. Fueled by the Smuttynose Brewing Company. Despite dropping in the polls after last week’s big debate, Senator Paul puts his confidence in other polls in New Hampshire and four other battleground states which show that he would do better than Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton. Paul pointed out that his political roots can be traced to the Tea Party movement. This grass roots movement was formed out of frustration with “Fake Conservatives or Fake Republicans.” The senator then listed a number of issues where Donald Trump has flip flopped–Obamacare, bank bail outs, and gun control. Paul even mocked Trump’s rationale for his buying influence with politicians from both parties, especially Hillary Clinton.
Dean Spiliotes, who is a Political Science Professor at Southern New Hampshire University, pressed Senator Paul about whether his stand against the Patriot Act allowing the NSA to gather information was still an important issue. Paul admitted that the current news cycle is focused on Trump, but he points out that 87% of people under age 40 think that this privacy issue is still important.
Charlie Arlinghaus, the president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, asked Senator Paul to explain the flat tax which is an important part of his economic platform. Under the Paul Plan, individuals and corporations would simply pay 14.5%. There would be no IRS! The goal is to create a smaller government. When he was asked if he could pull this off, Senator Paul admitted that he has worked with people on the other side of the aisle before and could do it again, even though it might involve some horse trading.
When he was asked about Hillary Clinton’s recent college loan proposal, Senator Paul pointed out that the two sectors of the economy which have had out of control price increases in recent years are health care and higher education. He believes that government subsidies are the cause. He proposes a simpler solution than having “free” college education–that means that someone who doesn’t go to college is paying for someone else to go to college. He believes that college loans should be tax deductible–both interest and principal with no time or amount limits until the loan is repaid.
The Paul solution for infrastructure problems like a $15 billion shortfall for the Highway Fund is also creative and simple. He would lower corporate tax rates on overseas income. His economists estimate that that would bring back $1.4 trillion of the $2 trillion currently kept overseas.
