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REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND Paul today announced his candidacy for the US Presidency in 2016.
Much like his father Ron Paul who ran for their party’s nomination most recently in 2012, Rand Paul’s policies are not completely in line with what you might expect from many Republicans.
Ron Paul ran three times for the White House, once under the banner of the Libertarian Party.
Rand Paul has defined himself “Libertarian-ish” but has written that “My dad has always been my Dad and my political hero.”
His political position means he draws support from a wide spectrum of typical American voters.
Here’s a flavour of where Paul stands on some issues and a few reasons why he’s not your average candidate.
He’s far from a war monger
Quite the opposite in fact. Rand Paul promotes a non-interventionist foreign policy, frequently arguing that US involvement in foreign conflicts backfires.
He was a harsh critic of the Iraq War and opposed President Obama’s intervention in Syria.
He blasted Hillary Clinton as a “war hawk” for fuelling calls for regime change in Syria.
On his own website, Paul argues that the President should only send “our brave men and women into harms way” with Congressional approval.
The Kentucky Senator did, however, support US airstrikes against Islamic State.
He’s also been a staunch opponent of President Obama’s drone programme. In 2013, he spoke for 13 hours against the USA’s drone policy.
Garnering praise from even Jon Stewart in the process.
He’s a fan of Edward Snowden (who may be a fan of him)
Paul has spoken at length opposing NSA surveillance and The Verge reports that, during today’s announcement, he said “phone records of law abiding citizens are none of [the government's] damn business.”
It stems from his support of individual liberties and he also promises to “reassert the rights and privileges of the individual by standing up for the entire Bill of Rights”.
Immigration
Paul says that he doesn’t support a full amnesty for illegal immigrants but sees no reason to seek deportation.
“The 11 million, I think, are never going home, don’t need to be sent home, and I would incorporate them into our society by giving them work visas and making them taxpayers,” he told Bloomberg in January.
Despite this, Paul has voted against a number of Obama’s immigration reforms during his time in the Senate.
He’s a bit iffy on climate change
In the past he’s questioned whether or not humans are causing climate change saying that the data is “not conclusive”.
Despite this, he did vote earlier this year saying that climate change is happening and that humans are causing it.
But he’s been very reluctant to pass any laws that would limit carbon emissions and is a consistent supporter of the controversial Keystone oil pipeline system from Canada to the United States.
He is vehemently Pro-Life on abortion
On his website, Paul has a section entitled ‘Sanctity of Life’ in which he states his belief that “life begins at conception and that abortion takes the life of an innocent human being.”
“Since the Roe v. Wade decision, over 50 million children have been killed in abortion procedures,” he argues.
You can buy flip flops and beer mugs in his campaign store
Paul’s campaign store is filled full of peculiar fundraising nick-nacks, including a $1,000 signed Constitution, an “NSA Spy Cam Blocker,” and a Rand Paul-themed eye chart to measure vision clarity.
You can but an “Unleash the Dream Beer Stein” complete with a picture of a Jack Russell holding an American flag. The dog urged you to “Cut the leash, defeat the Washington Machine.”
There’s even three-foot tall Rand Paul birthday cards, “Of all the gifts they get, this is the one everybody will be talking about,” reads the website.
No dispute there.
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Better than taking bribes ahem I mean contributions from big business.
It would be great if Rand got elected. When Ron Paul was running there was concern he would be shot if he looked like he was going to be a candidate as he has called for a transparent non corrupt government and an audit of the fed.
Going to be tough to beat Frank Underwood, but it will be interesting to see how Franks campaign will go now that Claire is leaving him.
His antiwar stance and support for Snowden will mean the neocons will throw every cake of mud on their bloody boots at him just like they did his very sensible father. His most difficult task is being nominated. I think he’d win handily if he was. Americans and people in general are waking up
Do Americans care that big business effectively controls their presidency? All the money they throw at the two main parties and then on elected must do “favours” for. The last President who showed he had a mind of his own was Kennedy and well you know what happened there. I think the likes of Jefferson and Washington would be spinning in their graves.
No chance.
Of course he’s no chance.
But at least it won’t be a walkover for Jeb should he decide to run.
(My money would be on Scott Walker, if he decides to run)
He’s certainly upped his profile with his support for the GOP letter to Iran. Very difficult to call it. Wonder what dirt will be brought up on him, bound to be something!
There will never be a US President like George Washington. He led our country as commander-in-chief and with little resources led us to win our independence. And then gracefully resigned his commission to return to private life after the signing of the Treaty of Paris. He was not without fault. No man is. He was s slaveowner. But he came to a realization during his lifetime and prepared his will to free those slaves upon his death. When the country ratified the Constitution and established the office of the Presidency, he did not seek the office but was asked to run for the office and was elected. He came out of retirement to lead us once again. There will be no other like him.
How can ye trust a man that sells flip flops ? There pure evil.
He gives the people what they want.
His father is a contributor to an extreme right wing conspiracy site, I don’t know how far the fruit has fallen from that particular tree. It would worry me having a US President with a father whom he considers his political hero who thinks the US goverment now been led by his son, were responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
What is this “extreme right wing conspiracy site”? And if you mean Ron Paul thinks the govt orchestrated 9/11 you are very wrong.
In an interview in 2014, the host of Money and Markets, Charles Goyette, put to him that it is “shocking that the American people are prohibited from knowing the whole truth about 9/11,” Paul countered: “Boy, that’s for sure. It’s shocking, but then, when you stop and think about it, shouldn’t we expect this from our government? Which is really sad.”
He continued:
“I’ve come to the conclusion that all government commissions are designed to protect the government. … I believe that if we ever get the full truth [about 9/11], we’ll find out that our government had it in the records exactly what the plans were, or at least close to it.”
And then:
“Does [foreknowledge of the attacks] prove that our president and others actually sat down and laid the plans and did this? I don’t think it does, but I think it does show that one of the reasons why they want to cover it up is because they don’t want to say, the FBI and the CIA were, at the time, spending $40 billion a year to spy on everybody to make us safe and secure, and therefore they really messed up, so they had to hide that.”
Very sensible comments and you’ve been debunked.
Simply google Ron Paul and infowars, a right wing conspiracy theory website which advocates that not only was 9/11 an inside job but Sandy Hook and the Boston bombings were in their learned opinions ‘false flags’. Paul’s father regularly contributes his ‘theroies’ as to who or what is behind global events, recently stating on one show that America was behind the Ukraine conflict. Alex Jones the ultra right wing fear mongering host of the show has promised to have Rand Paul on and considering his slim if no chances of winning my fear would be, how will he prostitute himself with that demographic of listenership to garner support.
The site is a sounding board for white ultra conservative ‘christians’ and while Paul senior may not be fully in bed with the listenership, following multiple appearances on the show he is most certainly in the same room.
The US was most definitely behind the Ukraine conflict. They paid protesters and had chosen the current leadership as their preferred leadership of the country.
Yep, it was my belief this was openly understood to be the case, not some wild conspiracy theory. Maybe they hid it a little better in the US.
They were also behind the conflict in Syria, with Saudi Arabia funneling money to the “Rebels” whom we now know and love as “ISIS”.
Ron Paul has his faults, but foreign policy and the economy are his strengths. He falls down on social issues because as a right leaning libertarian, he doesn’t believe it’s his job to have an opinion on social issues.
I think the world, right now is long past the point of going back to a capitalist libertarian societal structure.
He wouldn’t win in the end. If and that’s a big if he gets nominated, the Democrats will destroy him. I notice this article fails to mention his more libertarian economic views on issues like tax reform and health care.
Doubt many Americans would support them.
Yes the Democratic Party that founded the KKK and the Jim Crow laws .
yeah cause printing money to pay your debts has really been an effective plan, kinda like laying train tracks towards a cliff.
have your say