Among \u201cthe rising stars\u201d in the GOP that we hear more and more about, none shines as brightly as Rand Paul.<\/p>\n
To repeat: if the future of the Republican Party can be said to have a face, those who love liberty should hope that is that of Senator Paul\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s filibuster of President Obama\u2019s nominee for CIA Director John Brennan is significant for several reasons.<\/p>\n
First, Paul succeeded in doing what no<\/em> Republican politician has managed to do from at least the time that Obama assumed the presidency: he raised the morale of Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians from the ashes to new heights.\u00a0 Finally, one of the elected representatives of the party of \u201climited government\u201d showed himself to be someone around whom they could rally.<\/p>\n Second, if he hadn\u2019t done so already, Paul immunized himself against the sorts of smear tactics to which his father\u2019s fellow Republicans routinely subjected him.\u00a0 As a consequence of lacking his son\u2019s political savvy, Ron Paul lent himself to being portrayed as a kind of fringe candidate. Rand Paul, in contrast, now commands the respect and admiration of just those mainstream Republicans who made sport of his dad.\u00a0 In fact, a consensus seems to be emerging that Rand Paul promises to be quite the viable presidential candidate in 2016.<\/p>\n Third, Paul provoked some of his colleagues to join him on the floor. \u00a0Whether they would have initiated a filibuster in the absence of Paul\u2019s lead is anyone\u2019s guess.\u00a0 However, for present purposes, their intentions are not relevant.\u00a0 What matters is that Paul emboldened them to take a stand against the Obama administration.<\/p>\n Fourth, because of the actions of this one man, on this one day, the issue of drone attacks vis-\u00e0-vis our constitutional liberties has been thrust front and center in the media.\u00a0 That is, people are talking once again about the Constitution. <\/em><\/p>\n Fifth, Paul beckoned forth criticism <\/em>for his filibuster from Senate veterans John McCain and Lindsay Graham.\u00a0 This only endeared Paul that much more to those legions of the GOP\u2019s constituents who long ago grew disenchanted with their party precisely because of its McCains and Grahams.\u00a0 It also enabled Paul to sharply distinguish himself from his critics without having to say another word.<\/p>\n Sixth, among those Republicans whose names are now being bandied about as possible presidential contenders in 2016, Rand Paul alone <\/em>stands a strong chance of garnering, not just the support, but the enthusiastic <\/em>support, of voters from across the political spectrum.\u00a0 Those four million or so self-identified Republicans and libertarians who stayed away from the polls back in November because they refused to any longer vote for Big Government Republicans know that Rand, like his father, don\u2019t just talk the talk when it comes to constitutional liberty.\u00a0 Independents and many Democrats who have grown weary of the leftist excesses of the Democratic Party also find much to respect\u2014and trust\u2014in the Pauls.\u00a0 Of no other Republican can the same be said at this time. \u00a0<\/p>\n There is one final reason why Paul\u2019s filibuster matters. Not unsurprisingly, it seems to have gotten lost in much of the praise that has been heaped upon the Senator from Kentucky.<\/p>\n The points that Paul made during his nearly 13 hours on the Senate floor on Wednesday were just those points around which his much maligned father centered his political career.\u00a0 They were just those points, in other words, for which many of the same Republicans who now cheer Paul the younger once blasted Paul the elder.<\/p>\n Ron Paul knew what America\u2019s Founding Fathers knew: there is no liberty unless there is a wide dispersion of political power.\u00a0 Unless a government is divided against itself, unless it is constrained by numerous \u201cchecks and balances,\u201d the individual citizen will be forever at its mercy.\u00a0 It is this insight that led the Founders to devise the Constitution.<\/p>\n And it is this insight that led Ron Paul to throw up as much resistance to the Republican Party\u2019s prosecution of \u201cthe War on Terror\u201d as he did.<\/p>\n Thankfully, for the lovers of liberty, the son shares his father\u2019s commitment to the vision of liberty embodied in the Constitution.\u00a0Rand\u2019s filibuster was not motivated by partisan considerations. Like his dad, and like our Founders, he knows that government, regardless of party, is at no time more a threat to liberty than when it seeks to amass large concentrations of power for the ostensible sake of \u201ckeeping us safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Hopefully, more Americans are once again coming to know this now thanks to Rand Paul.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0originally published at World Net Daily<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Among \u201cthe rising stars\u201d in the GOP that we hear more and more about, none shines as brightly as Rand Paul. To repeat: if the future of the Republican Party can be said to have a face, those who love liberty should hope that is that of Senator Paul\u2019s.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s filibuster of President Obama\u2019s nominee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n