Fresh from his latest battles in the Senate over the NSA’s (National Security Agency) gathering of phone records, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul made an appearance at the Republican Party’s Pies and Politics Event in Concord yesterday. By passionately citing civil liberties concerns, Paul stood up to many Republican senators to block continuation of the some of the provisions of the Patriot Act. As a result of this dramatic showdown, Rand Paul has been attacked by many members of his own party both in the Senate chamber and by fellow candidates on the campaign trail.
If Rand Paul is the most unpopular man in Washington, D.C., he wears it like a badge of honor. As he puts it, “Popularity in D.C. is inversely proportional to popularity outside of Washington.” He feels that many in Washington are simply out of touch with the American people which explains why Congress only has a 10% approval rating. Senator Paul feels that his goal is to run against the Washington Machine. Ironically, if he were elected president, President Rand Paul would have to use his power to dismantle much of the government. Nevertheless, he intends to maintain his commitment to smaller government and would push for reforms like term limits and returning more power to the states. This would be his approach to the Common Core education debate. Paul would leave the decision making process and the establishment of standards to be determined on a state and local level. He sees economic recovery as a purely local matter. He believes that the economy has two sectors. There is the productive sector or private sector and the non-productive sector or government sector. For Senator Paul the only way for the economy to move forward is to take money away from the non-productive sector by cutting spending and decreasing taxes so there will be more money available for the productive sector.
Senator Paul plans to give an outline of his tax proposals in the coming weeks.
