Are you a liberty lover? Do you want to “defeat the Washington machine and unleash the American dream?” If so, you’re in luck because Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, announced Tuesday — to no one’s surprise — that he’ll be running for president.
Paul is the son of former Texas congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. The elder Paul, a notorious freedom enthusiast, garnered a cult following in the 2012 Republican presidential primary with his support of marijuana legalization. But his campaign was derailed by critics who definitely did not love freedom as much as the Paul family.
The anti-liberty naysayers distracted voters from the real issues, like liberty and freedom, by focusing on boring things like a newsletter that Ron Paul used to publish years ago and claiming that it was “racist” and “homophobic.” But who cares if he wrote things like “I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in (Washington, D.C.,) are semi-criminal or entirely criminal”? And does it really matter if he thinks that “Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities”? After all, bigotry is a freedom, too!
But let’s not forget that Rand Paul is his own man and doesn’t necessarily take after his father. Paul has cultivated his own unique brand of libertarian-ish conservatism, and he’s running for president because he thinks that the federal government shouldn’t interfere with the lives of its citizens. Except to keep same-sex couples from getting married. And to prevent women from exercising control over their own reproductive health. But in absolutely no other circumstance should the government prevent citizens from doing what they want.
Paul is not your average conservative. He has gone to great lengths to win over constituents who are normally freedom-hating liberals. For example, he visited Howard University — a historically black college — to extol the virtues of the Republican Party and enlighten the students on all the great things the GOP has done for black people. Did you know the people who founded the NAACP in 1909 were all Republicans? Game changer!
Instead of thanking Paul for giving us all lessons in African American history, some anti-freedom advocates still have the nerve to criticize this great libertarian champion. Paul has ruffled pro-Big Government feathers by crusading against any and all forms of federal government interference, even if it comes in the form of a so-called “Civil Rights Act.” Sure, maybe it helped get rid of racial discrimination by private businesses back in 1966, but everyone knows the free market was going to take care of that eventually!
One of the best things about Paul is that there are so many sides to him that you never know what you’re going to get from him at any given time. One day he’ll propose cutting off all aid to Israel, and then another day he'll tell us that he has never ever proposed cutting off all aid to Israel. Those who hate freedom might call Paul a liar but, like all great men, he’s just misunderstood.
Like his father before him, Paul knows he needs to stick to the issues that matter, like marijuana. Name another politician that shares his progressive views on drug laws. Because of this, Paul is the candidate young people have been eagerly awaiting. Millennials can easily identify with his views on marijuana and… other stuff. Who cares about his views on dumb things like civil rights , gay marriage , reproductive rights, vaccinations, foreign policy, minimum wage , conspiracy theories and the economy? True liberty lovers will forget about all of that and remember that a vote for Paul is a vote for freedom(ish).
Reach the columnist at hneidig@asu.edu or follow @hneidig on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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