Senator Rand Paul is widening the difference between his father, the long-time former Congressman from Texas whose “no” votes on principle, whether you agree or not, have shaped his place in history. See his lengthy farewell address upon retiring from the House of Re.... Ron Paul has just established the non-profit Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

The differences between father and son are ones of personality, policy and opportunism. Since Rand Paul is intent on running for president in 2016, his drift toward the corporatist Republicans is noteworthy.

Senator Rand Paul appears sterner. He is also far less likely to return calls than his father. When he was running for the Kentucky Senate Seat in 2010, I made several calls to ask whether he intended to support the bills his father was proposing in the House, including the legalization of growing industrial hemp in the U.S. for food, energy, clothing, paper lubricants and many other uses. He never responded, even though he was called by the Louisville Courier Journal on this subject. (Senator Paul has now sponsored legalization of industrial hemp cultivation.)

Soon I realized that others had difficulty in reaching him both during his campaign and since then. In 2010, his campaign director did tell me that when Rand Paul becomes Senator, he would go after the overblown military budget.

Remembering that assurance, I was more than surprised to learn how far Rand Paul has moved from his libertarian/conservative base. Here are two recent statements of his that received little coverage.

Last month, the Associated Press reported Senator Paul saying:

“They’re precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending and their “Gimme, gimme, gimme—give me all the Sandy [Hurricane Sandy] money now,’ those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense.”

A few days later on August 6, Senator Paul was at Fort Campbell in Kentucky where he said: “If we were to cut somewhere else in the budget, I would try to restore some money to the military.”

Well, well, the corporatists and crony capitalists may have a new recruit—Rand Paul—who is not heeding President Dwight Eisenhower’s famous caveat about the military industrial complex in his 1961 farewell address to the American people.

Kentucky has numerous military installations and military contractors who must be quite pleased with how Rand Paul has dropped his fathers’ notable opposition to the bloated military budget and the imperial consequences of empire building. Meanwhile, Senator Paul has little trouble on another spending front—namely that Kentucky gets $1.51 back for every tax dollar it sends to Washington D.C.

Newt Gingrich—a military empire builder if there ever was one—is now praising Rand Paul in the Washington Times.

Libertarians do not like sovereignty-shredding authoritarian trade agreements such as NAFTA and the GATT. Rand Paul not only declines to challenge the autocratic systems of transnational governance created by these agreements that drive ‘corporate managed trade,’ but he votes for more drastic bilateral extensions with South Korea and Colombia.

Senator Paul received much deserved publicity in March when he spoke for 13 hours on the Senate floor against drone warfare and the extent of the President’s right to commit homicide. That led some commentators to say he positioned himself ahead of the pack for 2016. The Senator has discovered showhorsing—get all the publicity but hold back from continuing to seriously workhorse the issue.

Mr. Paul did the same last year when he voted against the National Defense Authorization Act which contained a provision that many argue authorizes the president to arrest anyone suspected of terrorist support or activity and jail them without charges. Rand Paul turned down pleas from some of his outside political advisors to put “a hold” on the bill that would have intensified his opposition and aroused the public. That signaled Senator Paul had complied with the demand of the Senate Republican leadership club.

Senator Paul refers often to the Constitution and its preamble that starts with “we the people.” But his votes seem to reflect that he supports big business, including big oil, gaining more power over the people or at the expense of the people. Surely he knows that nowhere in the U.S Constitution do the words “corporation” or “company” appear.

Perhaps political ambition also has deterred physician (ophthalmologist) Rand Paul from applying the Hippocratic Oath (never do harm) in the Senate. He voted with 46 Senators who wished to rollback violent toxic emissions (including mercury) from electric power plants.

There was a time when the corporate state in Washington, D.C. was anxious about candidate Rand Paul. They thought he would defiantly oppose their many corporate welfare benefits, instead of just pitching words. They sensed that he would be the hairshirt and watchdog over the lucrative, wasteful military budget and militarism abroad. The anxiety is gone. The word around the world of corporate lobbying inside the Beltway is that Rand Paul is becoming “bankable.”

So much for his fellow Kentuckians back home who don’t have Inc. after their names. For these people, Rand Paul will continue to voice unlimited free market rhetoric. None of that will help hardworking folks earn a decent livelihood with life-saving full Medicare and free choice of doctors and hospitals—or safer environments. Those are visions that Ophthalmologist Rand Paul did not learn much about in medical school.

On the matters of corporatism, Empire, militarism, the big Wall Street banks, crony capitalism and the unlawful, repressive national security bureaucracy, Rand Paul is being pulled from his father’s positions by the pressure of Republicans who thrive off the corporate state. His libertarian base will have to weigh in before the tipping point of political ambition confronts his first supporters.

Source: http://nader.org/2013/08/09/the-dilemma-of-senator-rand-paul/

(TLS)- Thought provoking...

Views: 122

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Tara on August 11, 2013 at 11:03pm

And of course this also is a dilemma for Sir Rand Paul... hmm, flip flop much???

Rand Paul: U.S. should make clear to world ‘any attack on Israel wi...

Comment by truth on August 11, 2013 at 2:32pm

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

Doc Vega, Chris of the family Masters, cheeki kea and 3 more were featured

 

Latest Activity

MAC posted a video

WHO new Pandemic Treaty is TERRIFYING and almost here | Redacted with Natali and Clayton Morris

Last week world leaders moved closer to a Pandemic Treaty that would hand sovereign power to the unelected World Health Organization. This is the treaty we’v...
16 minutes ago
steve posted a blog post
47 minutes ago
steve commented on steve's blog post trumpy bear at the W E F all but swapping spit with the evil piece of globalist shit clouse slob the funder of the invasion of all WHITE countries
"And the BLIND still support this loud mouth hesitant talker(just like that half nigger obama) it is…"
4 hours ago
FREEDOMROX favorited Less Prone's blog post The Malone Institute presents: World Economic Forum Project
4 hours ago
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

Goodbye dirty Dan puppet man.

"These types better hope they are arrested asap. It's not safe out there on the streets anymore…"
5 hours ago
cheeki kea commented on steve's blog post trumpy bear at the W E F all but swapping spit with the evil piece of globalist shit clouse slob the funder of the invasion of all WHITE countries
"That's because he is one. ~ According to search engine answers. Disappointing isn't…"
5 hours ago
steve commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

Goodbye dirty Dan puppet man.

"Another traitor just walks away with no punishment for the destruction and death they have caused,…"
5 hours ago
cheeki kea posted photos
6 hours ago
tjdavis posted a video

Батальйон “МОНАКО”. Як УП знайшла елітних біженців на Лазурному узбережжі | Українська правда

З початку повномасштабного вторгнення "Українська правда" неодноразово отримувала сигнали про те що у Монако, Монте-Карло та Ніцці сконцентрувалося непристой...
11 hours ago
Kenneth McClenton posted blog posts
11 hours ago
tjdavis posted blog posts
17 hours ago
tjdavis posted photos
18 hours ago
FREEDOMROX favorited steve's blog post trumpy bear at the W E F all but swapping spit with the evil piece of globalist shit clouse slob the funder of the invasion of all WHITE countries
19 hours ago
FREEDOMROX posted a video

Sinister developments

If you are a citizen or resident of the UK, please sign this petition and spread the word. The deadline to sign is October 3, 2023.https://petition.parliamen...
20 hours ago
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Could this be The Best Film Footage of Sasquatch yet?

Recent film footage has come to light. Yes, I know with photo Shoppe and prosthetics you can make a…See More
23 hours ago
rlionhearted_3 posted photos
yesterday
steve posted blog posts
yesterday
steve commented on steve's blog post We don't have a problem of "guns murdering people" we have a a problem of blecks make that violent primitive blecks murdering people
"A night in jail ,one single night in jail after encouraging her violent fellow niggers to loot and…"
yesterday
steve commented on steve's blog post We don't have a problem of "guns murdering people" we have a a problem of blecks make that violent primitive blecks murdering people
"Look at the head on this bald headed hog with out it's "hairhat. Steve 'Chicken…"
yesterday
steve's 3 blog posts were featured
yesterday

© 2023   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted