For those of you who prefer to watch:
Finally, a Senator — in fact, the LiberTEA Senator from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky :) — comes up with a brilliant plan to END foreign aid to THREE countries: Pakistan, Egypt and Libya. Brilliant because his fellow Senators can vote to end billions in foreign aid without Losing Face, something far more important to them than Doing The Right Thing.
The Spineless Ones can eagerly sign on to the Rand Paul Foreign Aid Reduction Plan because ending this aid frees up billions for direct aid to our veterans, with money left over to pay down the debt. Watch Paul present this worthy idea:
Wait… does “Senator in good conscience” qualify as an oxymoron? I think it might.
It’s shameful Rand was forced to come up with this idea, yet another in his long string of good ideas (disarming the FDA being one of my personal favorites). Apparently, it’s not enough that Pakistan is using our aid to torture and jail, basically condemn to death, our actual friend, Dr. Afridi, who helped us capture bin Laden. It’s not enough we can’t afford aid to any country, much less to three that use our borrowed money against us. If Congress is thinking, what is it thinking? This is like giving your husband’s mistress a credit card to buy a gun with which to shoot you.
Can we at least stop sending money out of the country and spend it on our veterans at home? Who have sacrificed life and limb, who are killing themselves at the rate of 17 veteran suicides a day, who deserve our help… can we at least give it to THEM?
The other ignoble piece of this political puzzle is that there are some amongst us who insist upon trashing Senator Paul, instead of trashing the Congressional corporatists who are at the heart of our troubles! I am as bewildered by my fellow warriors’ glee at the opportunity to leap at Paul’s throat as I am by, say, Mitch McConnell’s announcing he’s against legalization of hemp because of the “real danger it can be abused.” (Yeah, he said that in his outside voice.)
Somehow, Paul’s brilliant idea to basically shame his spineless cohorts in D.C. into doing the right thing translates into “foreign aid is acceptable,” an idea his father fought his entire career. So he’s also betraying his father?
C’mon, that’s a stretch. He’s figured out a way to END foreign aid to THREE entire countries in one fell swoop. Let’s get ‘er done!
Ron Paul is my hero and I am forever grateful that he cured my apathy, that he provided a focus for my deep and abiding anger. Rand, my Kentucky Senator and Ron’s son, did not fall far from the liberty tree. The difference is that Rand’s a realist. Thank heaven he doesn’t have the same idealogical purity his father does or he’d get exactly the same thing done in the political arena his father did: nothing.
Honestly, I’d prefer Congress critters who’d do nothing. But, at this moment in history, we gotta get on with some un-doing.
Here’s what Ron got done: Ron woke us up. And, by doing that, he got Washington’s attention. Because of Ron, we have liberty candidates like Rand, Justin Amash, Mike Lee, Thomas Massie (among others) winning elections and making a difference. None are perfect, but all are a force for liberty in DC. And they are paving the way for those of us coming after, as Ron did for them.
NOBODY else in Congress is doing what they are doing. NOBODY else in Congress is saying what they’re saying. And, as Ron Paul so famously pointed out, you can’t unhear something. Particularly if its the truth.
If we want to make a difference in the way our country is run, we must SUPPORT our liberty candidates. We have to stop digging into the few Senators worth a damn and go after the ones who are obvious ball and chains. Like Harry Reid for refusing to allow the Fed bill to come to the floor. Mitch McConnell for saying he wouldn’t support hemp until law enforcement says it’s OK, completely overlooking the fact that law enforcement makes 30% of its budget via predatory policing. Does anyone think Mitch doesn’t know that? Sure he does. Why not go after HIM on that issue?
Why not stay after Pelosi, trash her all over hell and back? She has John Dennis, a true and well-vetted liberty candidate, hot on her heels, who could use our support. But do we spend any energy going after her or supporting him. No. We attack Rand because he has a hair out of place. This will help us how?
Let’s keep our eyes on the prize at the far end of the field: liberty and justice for all. Let’s encourage liberty behavior in our representatives and forgive them when they stumble. Attacking Rand for every poor judgement call, real or perceived, will not benefit the liberty movement.
I support both Pauls. What I expect from Rand is that he will do his best. He’s not my leader, I won’t vote for Romney and I would definitely work to replace Mitch even though Rand thinks we should keep him. But, in the big picture, according to my Benjamin Franklin, Rand does far more right than wrong. He’s attacking his liberty to-do list with gusto, like disarming the FDA. Legalizing hemp. Decriminalizing raw milk. No drones spying on Americans. Ending the TSA.
Like ending foreign aid to THREE countries while giving more to our veterans and paying down the debt. This is a plan I can support.
