United States Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) joined Baldwin and Mobile County business leaders and the Alabama Republican Party for a roundtable breakfast in downtown Mobile yesterday. The Senator is currently one of the Republican Party’s top contenders for the 2016 presidential candidacy. In his two terms in the United States Senate, Senator Paul has quickly made a name for himself. His unwavering dedication to upholding the rights of citizens and his adherence to his personal principles have given him a reputation as a force to be reckoned with.
On March 6 and 7, 2013, Senator Paul filibustered to delay the nomination of John Brennan as Director of the CIA for 12 hours and 52 minutes. Senator Paul used a method once common place in the U.S. Congress, but now rarely employed, to challenge President Obama’s drone policy. Senator Paul demanded the Obama Administration pledge that noncombatants would not be targeted by drones on U.S. soil.
The waves Senator Paul has been creating since he took office in 2011 have yet to fade. At the 2014 CPAC presidential straw poll, Senator Rand Paul came ahead with 31% of the vote. It is early to know the course of the 2016 Presidential Election, but it is safe to say Senator Rand Paul is a man to keep an eye on. The Alabama Republican Party was pleased to have the Senator make his first stop in our state, and we expect more in the future. Now that our Presidential Primary is in March, voters in Alabama can look forward to receiving visits from many presidential hopefuls in the next couple of years.
>>>At the roundtable breakfast yesterday, Senator Paul spoke to the crowd on the federal budget, ObamaCare and the upcoming mid-term elections. “Nearly two-thirds of the federal budget is entitlements,” he stated, noting the fact as the biggest problem currently facing our federal budget. He gave the example that the government was paying for a $3 million advertisement of a water skiing squirrel to promote the sale of walnuts. Congress voted 300-90 to keep the funding for the ad. Senator Paul rhetorically asked, “If we cannot cut $3 million for a squirrel how can we cut entitlements?”
Senator Paul was adamant however that entitlements must be reduced, and that the federal budget should instead make its number one priority national defense. He also did not hesitate in stating that he would have voted to increase the debt ceiling initially IF a balanced budget amendment was included. He strongly believes that cutting taxes will stimulate the economy and is in fact the only way to increase the number of jobs available to Americans across the country.
Regarding immigration, Sen. Paul said that in order to reach Hispanics and get their vote we have to get beyond the issue of deportation. “They’re not going to care whether we go to the same church or have the same values or believe in the same kind of future of the country until we get beyond that,” Sen. Paul said and added, “we’ve got to get beyond deportation to get to the rest of the issues.”
As I was listening to Sen. Paul, I couldn’t help but remember some of the comments that he made at the CPAC convention this year when he said, “We must elect men and women of principle, and conviction and action, who will lead us back to greatness. There is a great and tumultuous battle underway for the future, not of the Republican Party, but the future of the entire country.” Sen. Paul continued saying, “Our future hangs in the balance. We can debate a jobless recovery, an alarming debt, a bothersome and abusive regulatory state, but know this; you can’t have prosperity without freedom. It isn’t a message of the haves or the haves-not, the rich versus the poor; it’s a message for anyone who wants to own their own destiny”.
Sen. Paul closed by saying, “America’s greatness will not flicker if we believe in ourselves, believe in our founding documents, believe that all men are created equal and everyone can succeed.”