Is Rand Paul Becoming Just Another Republican? (ACLU & Grover Norquist now advisors)

For several years Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, has been one of the most interesting politicians in his party and in congress as a whole. At a time when new ideas have become increasingly scarce, and the policy bandwidth increasingly narrow in Washington, Mr. Paul, whether speaking about US intervention and foreign policy or more recently about militarization and the police, has been one of the few politicians with views outside of his party’s mainstream. With the 2016 presidential election approaching, this has made Mr. Paul one of the most intriguing presidential candidates. But what’s made him special may also may be changing.

As the 2016 election draws nearer, Mr. Paul, according to Politico has bolstered his circle of advisors with a mix of conservative insiders like anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist, former Bush administration official and previous president of the International Republican Institute (IRI) Lorne Craner and James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, as well as with a number of organizations that are not usually found advising Republican presidential hopefuls, including the ACLU and Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an organization working to reform prison sentencing.

Last week Mr. Paul, who since being elected to the senate in 2010 has been one of the most influential voices against a broadly interventionist foreign policy, called for a very strong military response to ISIS. This view places Paul firmly in the mainstream of his party and of most of the American foreign policy establishment. ISIS is also a sufficiently significant threat that Mr. Paul’s statement is not inconsistent with his general view that intervention should only occur when U.S. national security is threatened.

Based on his advisors and his recent public statements on issues as diverse as ISIS and Ferguson it is apparent that Mr. Paul is being pulled between his purer Libertarian principles and the demands of Republican primary voters and conservative donors. During the next few months Mr. Paul will need to resolve this tension. He can either remaining a Libertarian and continue to take positions on issues from prison sentencing to the NSA that differ from his party’s establishment. Or he can sidle closer to that establishment in a way his father never did, by becoming another voice for an interventionist foreign policy and conservative social policies. In a political environment with no shortage of conventional and timid politicians, it would certainly make for a more compelling campaign if he chose the former.

Rand Paul On Shutdown: "Even Though It Appeared I Was Participating In It, It Was A Dumb Idea"
I said throughout the whole battle that shutting down the government was a dumb idea. Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea. And the reason I voted for it, though, is that it's a conundrum. Here's the conundrum. We have a $17 trillion debt and people at home tell me you can't give the president a blank check. We just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without conditions. So unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that and I can't vote for that. But the conundrum is if I don't we do approach these deadlines. So there is an impasse. In 2011, though, we had this impasse and the president did negotiate. We got the sequester. If we were to extend the sequester from discretionary spending to all the entitlements we would actually fix our problem within a few years.
[Posted on 11/19/2013 12:16:51 PM by Third Person]

Note: this topic is from 9/08/2014.

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet. He'd have to become a Republican in order to become "just another" one. He, and Glenn, and Grover are all demagogues, all in on amnesty, and other than Glenn are pro-jihad -- although Glenn would/will change that position to boost his ratings.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.