Liberty MavenThe Rand Paul Evolution
May 19th, 2009 8:15 am | by Marc Gallagher | Published in Activism, Commentary, Constitution, Foreign Policy, Liberty, Politics, Ron Paul, War, rand paul | 8 Responses
The more I hear from Rand Paul the more I like his approach to politics. Today I enjoyed listening to his lengthy interview with Scott Horton (antiwar.com) from last Friday. Listen to it here.
Horton certainly gave Ron Paul’s son a bit of a grilling on foreign policy, torture, and even asked him about nepotism. In the very little bit I’ve heard from the younger Paul I detect a concerted effort to frame the foreign policy/war debate into focusing on strong defense.
There are some who will balk at his position on whether to prosecute those who authorized torture from the Bush administration. Also, saying he would have voted to go into Afghanistan may turn some of the antiwar people off.
It’s difficult not to desire immediately comparing him to his father. We all want to know on what positions he differs with his father. As more and more of these interviews occur the differences (if any) will become apparent.
For now it seems that he’s trying to position himself as a “strong defense” guy on foreign policy. His father was positioned as the “bring them home” guy. The former is more likely to be more palatable for potential voters in a Republican primary in Kentucky.
I don’t believe the son is any different than the father when it comes down to their positions on foreign policy, but the words chosen while speaking with voters matter a great deal.
Rand Paul represents a potential evolution to the revolution.
May 20th, 2009 at 3:46 pm (#)
Rand's Dad has it right. Bring them home & do not make the mistake of sending them overseas to fight & die for "lies" ever again.
America has lost all of it's moral high ground on the World stage because of Torture & Extraordinary Rendition & must honestly look at the War on Terror for what it has done to the Nation in the eyes of the World.
During the power hungry paranoia of the Gorge W. Bush era, America, in the interests of national security, has set into place this giant new industry of information mining.
With the CIA in charge, large scale detention camps have been established all over the middle & far East. A fleet of 17 CIA prison ships continue to this day, to patrol the High Seas & World harbors facilitating the most efficient ways of collecting & extracting a small amount of what they consider to be valuable "intelligence" from this large body of largely innocent & unsuspecting citizens of the World.
It is now calculated that as many as 100,000 people could have entered this CIA run system over the last 8 years, & most of this population is still being held despite the fact that most of these people are now known to be innocent of any wrongdoing at all, They are simply victims of the insecure & power mad mind set that rules Washington.
Nothing has changed since President Obama took office, & he has a 4 year to make it even worse. Obstruction of justice is a very bad sign indeed & doing nothing to stop this madness, is obstruction of Justice.
The torture never stops on the High seas. There are no rules or policing systems out there to prevent it. There are no Red Cross inspections & there most certainly is not any form of legal council or judicial appeal system. If you, a friend, or a family member, are on a CIA Prison Ship you are very likely to never see the light of day again. We are back to pure Barbarian rules out there. "The horror" is real, & it is being done in "your " name America.
The exact number of victims from around the world is kept secret & will never be known, because the CIA has publicly admitted that they have destroyed their files relating to torture & Extraordinary Rendition. It has been speculated that they may have erased more files than they have kept because even this "Above the Law " organization, fears that the program has gotten out of control & their crimes will soon be exposed to judicial rule, if not at home in America, then in the public domain of the World Courts for sure.
America & the CIA will be found to be guilty of very serious Crimes Against Humanity, Even the most basic human rights have been denied to thousands of innocent victims for years unending.
Will Rand Paul have what it takes to man up & help deal with this disgraceful situation ?
Only time will tell, but he seems as strong as his father in a lot of ways, so we can hope.
2010 will be a tough time to be politically responsible for the crimes of America, & I am grateful that Rand Paul is willing to do just that.
He has my RESPECT !
May 20th, 2009 at 3:50 pm (#)
Rand's Dad has it right. Bring them home & do not make the mistake of sending them overseas to fight & die for "lies" ever again.
America has lost all of it's moral high ground on the World stage because of Torture & Extraordinary Rendition & must honestly look at the War on Terror for what it has done to the Nation in the eyes of the World.
During the power hungry paranoia of the Gorge W. Bush era, America, in the interests of national security, has set into place this giant new industry of information mining.
With the CIA in charge, large scale detention camps have been established all over the middle & far East. A fleet of 17 CIA prison ships continue to this day, to patrol the High Seas & World harbors facilitating the most efficient ways of collecting & extracting a small amount of what they consider to be valuable "intelligence" from this large body of largely innocent & unsuspecting citizens of the World.
It is now calculated that as many as 100,000 people could have entered this CIA run system over the last 8 years, & most of this population is still being held despite the fact that most of these people are now known to be innocent of any wrongdoing at all, They are simply victims of the insecure & power mad mind set that rules Washington.
Nothing has changed since President Obama took office, & he has a 4 year term to make it even worse. Obstruction of justice is a very bad sign indeed & doing nothing to stop this madness, is obstruction of Justice. Obama will bear as much responsibility at Bush in no time.
The torture never stops on the High seas. There are no rules or policing systems out there to prevent it. There are no Red Cross inspections & there most certainly is not any form of legal council or judicial appeal system. If you, a friend, or a family member, are on a CIA Prison Ship you are very likely to never see the light of day again. We are back to pure Barbarian rules out there. "The horror" is real, & it is being done in "your " name America.
The exact number of victims from around the world is kept secret & will never be known, because the CIA has publicly admitted that they have destroyed their files relating to torture & Extraordinary Rendition. It has been speculated that they may have erased more files than they have kept because even this "Above the Law " organization, fears that the program has gotten out of control & their crimes will soon be exposed to judicial rule, if not at home in America, then in the public domain of the World Courts for sure.
America & the CIA will be found to be guilty of very serious Crimes Against Humanity, Even the most basic human rights have been denied to thousands of innocent victims for years unending.
Will Rand Paul have what it takes to man up & help deal with this disgraceful situation ?
Only time will tell, but he seems as strong as his father in a lot of ways, so we can hope.
2010 will be a tough time to be politically responsible for the crimes of America, & I am grateful that Rand Paul is willing to do just that.
He has my RESPECT !
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:07 am (#)
Well, what we really have is a conflation of idiocy going on. It starts when one or two idiots dream up the entire PNAC thing, you know, the U.S. is the Empire of the world and must overlay its values on everyone. (Sort of retro-WWII dreaming, where we are funding the entire world through oil expenditures.) That creates a precedent for creating wars (sort of like, Manifest Destiny) that clear the way for businesses to take root in countries that do not want us. Well, then, we create more idiotic and exotic context for the actions–e.g., the war on terror, like the little camel-jockey in Afghanistan is getting ready to build a nuclear bomb. More idiocy occurs. We then have to concoct the terrorists, and their plots. Nevermind that most of the people we are engaging war upon have no knowledge of Al Qaeda. Most of them just don't want to be overruled by the West. You think the people in Nigeria are Al Qaeda terrorists? Hardly. It's about state and religious sovereignty. Well, more idiocy must occur to counteract this view. Idiocy on the news. Idiocy in govt positions. Idiocy from Bush, Cheney, and the current cabal. It's just non-stop idiocy. So, I think, this is really the War on Idiocy.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:54 am (#)
American values are not what is being imposed here Scott. The CIA documentation in the public domain, that relate to the Extraordinary Rendition program indicates that there are 26,000 prisoners are in CIA land based prisons & on Prison Ships (where Torture can continue because the Law of the Land is not being broken).
It is estimated that well over 80,000 men have been processed through these facilities since 2001.
Held for years without charges.
Systemic torture & dehumanizing treatment.
No legal council.
No judicial appeal.
No basic human rights.
& for may, no hope at all !
American values you say ? I say pity that.
These are unAmerican values, is what I say.
The MSM (Main Stream Media) is a disgrace for not reporting the Truth !
The facts are out there, if you do your own research.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 am (#)
American values are not what is being imposed here Scott. The CIA documentation in the public domain, that relate to the Extraordinary Rendition program indicates that there are 26,000 prisoners in CIA land based prisons & on Prison Ships (where Torture can continue because the Law of the Land is not being broken).
It is estimated that well over 80,000 men have been processed through these facilities since 2001.
Held for years without charges.
Systemic torture & dehumanizing treatment.
No legal council.
No judicial appeal.
No basic human rights.
& for may, no hope at all !
American values you say ? I say pity that.
These are unAmerican values, is what I say.
The MSM (Main Stream Media) is a disgrace for not reporting the Truth !
The facts are out there, if you do your own research.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 am (#)
American values are not what is being imposed here Scott. The CIA documentation in the public domain, that relate to the Extraordinary Rendition program indicates that there are 26,000 prisoners in CIA land based prisons & on CIA Prison Ships (where Torture can continue because the Law of the Land is not being broken).
It is estimated that well over 80,000 men have been processed through these facilities since 2001.
Held for years without charges.
Systemic torture & dehumanizing treatment.
No legal council.
No judicial appeal.
No basic human rights.
& for may, no hope at all !
American values you say ? I say pity that.
These are unAmerican values, is what I say.
The MSM (Main Stream Media) is a disgrace for not reporting the Truth !
The facts are out there, if you do your own research.
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 am (#)
Terry,
There is some system of values that is being laid upon us–whether they are real or fictional is not the argument. The values are in question, to be sure. The values may be of the same ilk that pushed the Indians off their land. I am not making a moral judgment here. I am saying that there are factions who are laying their values on the world. That's it. I don't subscribe to the use of "intervention" to promote our values. That's it. We are arguing about the same problem.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 am (#)
[...] pointed out in the past that I think Rand Paul is more charismatic and tolerable to neo-conservatives than his father. Rand [...]