Ron Paul: Ted Cruz is Owned by Goldman Sachs

Ron Paul: Ted Cruz is no libertarian

February 5, 2016

Now that Rand Paul is out of the race for the White House, his father Ron Paul, who ran in 2008 and 2012, on Friday warned his son’s former supporters that Ted Cruz isn’t a free-market libertarian:

“You take a guy like Cruz, people are liking the Cruz — they think he’s for the free market, and [in reality] he’s owned by Goldman Sachs. I mean, he and Hillary have more in common than we would have with either Cruz or Trump or any of them, so I just don’t think there is much picking,” Paul said of the Texas senator on Fox Business’ “Varney & Company”.

When asked if there was a candidate who was truly for the free market, the former Texas congressman said that since his son it out of the race, there isn't a candidate, Republican or Democrat, that is a libertarian:

“On occasion, Bernie comes up with libertarian views when he talks about taking away the cronyism on Wall Street, so in essence he’s right, and occasionally he voted against war.”

"It's hard to find anybody -- since Rand is out of it -- anybody that would take a libertarian position, hardcore libertarian position on privacy, on the war issue and on economic policy."

“So I always say: You can search for a long time, but you’re not gonna find anybody in the Republican or Democratic primary that even comes slightly close to ever being able to claim themselves a libertarian,” he concluded.

During a Mises Institute conference on January 30, Paul commented on the views of socialists/progressives (video above):.

“[Socialists] will not listen to the argument that there’s a difference between somebody getting bailed out by the Federal Reserve… versus somebody who produces a good product and we [the People] vote them their money and they haven’t cheated, stolen or given us a bad product,” he said. “I think it’s sort of an envy and resentment, but I’ve talked to them and I have to tell you, I haven’t converted many die-hard progressives.”

“Some progressives, if you watch them on the Internet, will have really close agreements and they might be talking about the same issues, but boy they don’t want you to even introduce the notion that libertarians are with them on this because they’re terrified we might encroach on their power to redistribute wealth [by force].”

Ted Cruz Wants to Shutdown Five Federal Agencies

At the Fox Business Network presidential debate in Milwaukee on November 10, 2015,  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he would shutdown five federal agencies. He named four: the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cruz had a minor debate stumble during the debate when he named the same department twice when listing the federal agencies he would eliminate. "Five major agencies that I would eliminate: the IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, uh, the Department of Commerce, and HUD," Cruz said. Cruz was in good humor when Fox host Megyn Kelly asked the senator about the incident at the end of their interview after the debate. "I just think the Department of Commerce is such a base of cronyism, we need to eliminate it twice," Cruz joked. He added that he meant to say the Department of Education. "I have been campaigning for a long time on repealing Common Core, abolishing the Department of Education, and block-granting that money back to the states so education can be handled on the state and local level," Cruz said.

Ideally, 90 percent of federal departments should be eliminated.

What Federal Departments Should be Eliminated? 90% of Them

March 7, 2012

usa-wethepeople.com - One of the big myths out there believed by both the left and right is that we need the federal government to regulate profit-crazed maniacs who would sell our children morphine and poisoned milk. Little thought goes into this logic peddled on Main Street. It is accepted as gospel that capitalist are crazed lunatics willing to kill grandma to make a profit.

But if a company sold a harmful product wouldn’t they get sued if we had property rights enforced? Hush citizen!

The truth is the federal agencies are there to protect the elites by crushing Main Street. And Main Street supports the theft. We are held hostage by a privileged class and we enjoy it, often referred to as the Stockholm Syndrome.

It is a wonderful thing for the government thugs when they can steal your money and brainwash your children into believing the theft is justified by educating helpless children in government schools. 90% of Americans are brainwashed fools, and we don’t even realize it.

And, to top it off, the thieves get the people to play blue team/red team politics so the theft is concealed from the public. Like a magician the ignorant masses are fooled year after year. Go Red Team/Go Blue Team!!! Ra, ra, ra.

Below is a blog from Ludwig von Mises on 2-29-2012 by http://www.lewrockwell.com/.

The article briefly covers the regulatory history that should be taught in Universities and Colleges across America. Instead we get “government is good and fiscal policy and the Federal Reserve is good monetary policy” propaganda. Complete hogwash economics that is nothing but a smoke screen to hide the elites theft from the public. For every 100 students who take economics maybe one will see the malicious fairy tales for what they really are.

Rand Paul is Running for President in 2016 - Get Ready for the MSM Smear Campaign to Ramp Up

Rand Paul announces he is running for president

April 7, 2015

Yahoo! News - Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul made it official Tuesday, announcing that he will will run for president in 2016.

"I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words," Paul told supporters during a fiery speech at the Galt House in downtown Louisville, hours after announcing his bid for the White House on his website. "We have come to take our country back."

Speaking in front of a backdrop that read, "Defeat The Washington Machine — Unleash The American Dream," Paul said he is running because he has a "different vision" for America, one that includes "a return to prosperity" and a return to smaller government.

"Too often, when Republicans have won, we have squandered our victory by becoming part of the Washington machine," Paul said. "That's not who I am."

The tea party favorite and libertarian Republican candidate joined Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as the second major figure to launch a campaign for the GOP nomination.

Painting himself as a rebellious outsider and contrarian within the Republican party, Paul railed against career politicians, and suggested instituting term limits for members of Congress.

“Washington is horribly broken, I fear it cannot be fixed from within," Paul said. "I've been to Washington, and let me tell you, there is no monopoly on knowledge."

Paul also touched on foreign policy, vowing to "defend America from haters of mankind."

Sheriff Departments Across the U.S. Defending Defense Department Programs for the Militarization of Law Enforcement with Surplus Equipment

Weapons of war beefing up local police arsenals

'Police militarization' faces criticism, though Hampton Roads sheriffs, police officials defend defense department program to turn over surplus equipment to law enforcement. The Department of Defense’s Excess Property Program, commonly referred to as the 1033 Program, sends unneeded military equipment like weapons and body armor to local police forces for no cost.

September 28, 2014

Daily Press - A large armored vehicle that in recent years patrolled the battlefields of the Middle East now stands at the ready in York County.

Once used to help American troops avoid getting killed or maimed by roadside bombs, the imposing vehicle was turned over to the York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office in May under a long-standing program to allow law enforcement agencies to use military surplus equipment.

It's among 620 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles — also called "MRAPs" — recently doled out to cities and counties nationwide as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have wound down. And they're free to local agencies, except for shipping costs.

Moreover, hundreds of military assault rifles — most of them M-16s — were sent to local police departments and sheriff's offices in Hampton Roads between 2006 and 2012, according to a recent Defense Department spreadsheet.

Hampton, Newport News, Gloucester, Isle of Wight and Poquoson have together received more than 300 such rifles, according to the Aug. 20 list from the Defense Logistics Agency.

The Hampton Police led the way with 115 rifles, though it's giving them back as it transitions to department-purchased AR-15s that are smaller, lighter and come with night sights, a police spokesman said.

Newport News obtained 85 rifles, including 75 M-16s, while James City County Police Department has gotten 67 rifles, with both agencies saying many of the guns were issued to tactical and patrol officers certified on the weapons.

One police agency in Isle of Wight got optical gun sights, as well as night vision and infrared equipment. Mathews obtained a system to conceal or scatter radar signatures. New Kent received a grenade launcher.

Both the City of Franklin, population 8,600, and Virginia Beach got MRAPs like the one that went to York, while several agencies obtained various trucks.

But now, the surplus transfer program is under increasing scrutiny from the White House and congressional lawmakers. That follows recent events in Ferguson, Mo., where police outfitted with military-style gear — using armored vehicles, tear gas and smoke bombs — responded to gatherers protesting a fatal police shooting in August.

One recent bill, sponsored by a Georgia congressman and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, aims to restrict the program.

Equipping police forces

The Department of Defense's "1033" initiative began in the mid-1990s with congressional authorization, mainly to help law enforcement agencies combat drug trafficking. It offers everything from general equipment such as desks and exercise equipment, to guns, armored vehicles and even planes.

Under the program, tactical items are technically on loan to the police agencies. Ownership of the weaponry is maintained by the federal government. If the local agency no longer wants a weapon, they must give it back.

The ACLU — which has been complaining in recent years about what it calls a trend toward "militarized policing" — contended in a June report that having free access to such weapons has led police to use more heavy-handed tactics. The organization also blames equipment grants from the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security.

President Barack Obama expressed concern at a September news conference about the response at Ferguson, calling for a re-examination of the military's surplus program.

One of the great things about the United States, Obama said, is the "distinction" between police and the military, saying it "helps preserve our civil liberties."

"There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don't want those lines blurred," he said. "That would be contrary to our traditions."

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., considered a leading Republican candidate for president in 2016, has also voiced alarm. The "militarizing" is worrisome, he wrote, particularly in light of "eroding" civil liberties, such as an increased use of "no-knock" search warrants and the forfeiture of people's assets without convictions.

"Big government has been at the heart of the problem," Paul wrote in Time magazine on Aug. 14. "Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies — where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most Americans think of as law enforcement."

Controlling the flow of weapons

On Sept. 16, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Georgia, introduced the "Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act," designed to "stop the free flow" of excess Defense Department military weapons "from battlefields directly to the streets of America."

"When law enforcement uses military MRAPs on Main Street, that changes the relationship with the public," Johnson said on the House floor. "Our country is not a war zone, and it should not feel like one."

Scott signed on as a co-sponsor, as did 33 others — 29 Democrats and four Republicans.

Under the bill, the Defense Department would be barred from transferring to police departments "automatic weapons that are not recognized as suitable for law enforcement," including any guns .50-caliber or greater. On Thursday, Scott said many rifle transfers would still likely be allowed.

The legislation would ban the transfer of armored vehicles, drones, aircraft, flash bang grenades, stun grenades and gun silencers.

"If you need a military-style operation, it appears to me that you should call in the military, people that are actually trained in using these things," Scott said Thursday. "How often does a local county sheriff actually use a tank? And how well trained will his deputies be in using a tank? If you need a tank, the local National Guard can get one out there in no time."

Getting such a piece of equipment should be a policy decision, he said.

"If York County needs a tank," Scott said, "the county ought to appropriate the money and buy it."

Scott said he didn't have an immediate answer as to what he thought should be done with the unused equipment if it didn't go to police. But, he said, "getting this equipment so they can practice military operations against local citizens is in my view inappropriate."

Defending the weapons

Many in local law enforcement, however, have a very different take.

York-Poquoson Sheriff J.D. "Danny" Diggs defended his acquisition of the MRAP, saying it won't be routinely used. But it can help rescue and protect citizens and deputies alike in extreme situations, from a natural disaster to a hostage crisis to a school shooting.

"If we had deputies down in a situation, we could roll up to them and rescue them," Diggs said. Or in the case of a barricaded suspect, he added, "we could get in a little closer to establish some kind of communication."

And because the six-wheel-drive armored vehicle can drive into 3 feet of water, he said, "if we needed to evacuate people out of some water, we could do that as well." Sometimes, Diggs said, "you don't just want to show up in a patrol car."

Diggs added that he understands how such equipment "can be negatively perceived." But, he said, "the perceived abuse by one agency does not affect every agency in the country."

"Who's abusing it?" Diggs said of his MRAP, saying it's "not a tank." 

He also disputes the notion of widespread "police militarization."

"Other than having an MRAP, I'm no more militarized than I was 15 years ago when I took office," Diggs said. "So does that one piece of equipment that has multiple uses, and that will rarely if ever be used, make me some kind of military agency now? The answer is no."

Aside from the new armored vehicle, Diggs said, the only other surplus items his 94-person department has received from the program are 40 backpacks, some binoculars, and five shotguns that have been converted to less-than-lethal weapons that shoot beanbags.

He also said the armored vehicle is a good deal for county taxpayers. The Pentagon originally paid $733,000 for the MRAP in 2008, with Diggs saying it's now valued at about $400,000. The cost to the Sheriff's Office was only the $6,500 to ship it from Texas, with Diggs estimating maintenance at about $500 annually.

Isle of Wight Sheriff Mark Marshall, whose office has acquired two utility trucks, four rifles and eight digital cameras under the program, said "we're all trying to do more with less, as budgets continue to shrink."

"A lot of this equipment can be appropriately converted to civilian law enforcement," Marshall said. "The community and agency just have to weigh it out. Is there a utility? What's the maintenance? And is there a need that they foresee?"

He spoke of a Los Angeles case from 1997, in which two bank robbers armed with assault rifles had injured civilians, and "the weaponry the LAPD had to confront them was insufficient." Eventually, Marshall said, police had to take over a Brinks truck to evacuate the wounded.

Newport News Police spokesman Lou Thurston also brought up the 1997 incident, saying some of the officers went to a nearby gun shop, telling the owners that, "We're in a gun battle and need some firepower."

James City County Deputy Police Chief Steve Rubino said his department has gotten 67 military rifles during the past 10 years or so.

"It's a necessary piece of equipment to address deadly threats at a greater and safer distance more accurately," he said.

But he said the department tries to factor in public perception when acquiring new equipment. Last year, the police considered buying a new kind of bulletproof vest that's worn outside an officer's uniform. But the department decided against the move, Rubino said, because of the "appearance and image that they presented to the public."

The Williamsburg-James City Sheriff's Office has acquired 15 military rifles under the Defense Department program. The office doesn't provide primary law enforcement, with deputies providing court security, prisoner transport and the serving of court paperwork. But sometimes they help back up the police, Sheriff Bob Deeds said.

"And if someone were to come into the (courthouse) with something aside from a handgun ... then we have to be ready," Deeds said. Given the cost of new rifles, he said, getting the guns at shipping cost "was a pretty good deal in terms of saving taxpayers money."

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, touted the fact that the military's surplus program doesn't just transfer weapons, but everything from desks to lockers, from bulletproof vests to outer wear.

She asked what would become of the military weaponry if it didn't go to police:

"Do we really want to see them publicly auctioned off to people who are not in fact in a position to protect and serve?"

Schrad spoke of the students walking out of Columbine High School in Colorado with their hands up in 1999. If a sniper was at a school window, she said, "he could have picked off those kids." But an armored vehicle could go in and rescue them.

"On the rare occasion that it's used, it may be the only piece of equipment that can make a difference between saving a life or not," Schrad said. "This equipment can help the public, and not so much endanger the public."

Any potential misuse of the weapons, Schrad said, is curtailed by good training and policy, and by laws and court decisions outlawing excessive police force.

In his application for the MRAP in January, Diggs said his tactical team uses a modified and unprotected Ford Econoline van. Diggs said he initially wanted a smaller version of the armored vehicle, but only the larger version was available.

"We compare it to a generator — it's not worth much to many people until you need it," he said. "Would we have gone out to buy one of these out of local taxpayer money? The answer is no. Is it too big, is it overkill? The answer is yes. But it's at very low cost to us … and we hope we never have to use it."

There's a hatch atop the MRAP, near where a gun was once mounted. There are a couple bullet marks on the windows left over from wartime. The vehicle will soon be painted with a York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office logo, Diggs said, but will be made available to other cities and counties in Hampton Roads, too.

It's all about being prepared, Diggs said.

"Some people will criticize us because we got one," he said. "But others will criticize us if we didn't have one — and some kind of incident happened where we needed it. They'd say, 'It was available. Why didn't you get one?' "

Capitalism and Free Enterprise are Two Totally Different Systems

World Financial Collapse - A Capitalist Conspiracy! (Excerpt)

One morning you are going to wake-up and discover that the country has come to a complete stand-still, because nobody can afford to go to work or go to the store or pay their bills. That morning is closer than you think. And within hours or days of it happening, America's streets are going to be filled with foreign soldiers -- UN peace keepers, who won't give a damn about who you are or your Constitutional rights. They'll take your guns and your life!

Originally published on May 28, 2004

By Russell R. Bingman, No B.S. News & Commentary - The most effective way to accomplish a victorious conquest of any people is to defeat them financially and economically.

Everybody in the world, no matter who they are, has the same common needs: daily bread, clothes and shelter; and, depending upon their region, climate and culture: the need for energy for heating or cooling, electricity and transportation -- and medical care!

All these are the essentials of life, our basic needs; and basic needs should be available to anybody and everybody, at basic prices. But the prices we pay today for life's essentials are anything but basic -- they are at a premium, and constantly increasing. Mere coincidence? C'est la vie? Hardly!

The ever-increasing prices we pay today for life's basics are a clear reflection of the conquest and agenda of the New World Order -- capitalism in its true, unmasked form. Capitalism and free enterprise are two totally different systems, and any SOB who babbles otherwise is a liar or an idiot or both!

The prices that we're paying at the gas pumps is not an accident . . . nor is it simply because of the escalating world oil prices for crude, now at $40 a barrel, as the state news media propaganda machine keeps explaining to us. Rather, it is a well planned, carefully controlled battle strategy, rapidly achieving its intended goal -- the financial and economic collapse of the world.

I've been writing for over 15 years about the elite's control of the world economy, and that the world economy is based upon petroleum, which controls everything in the world. The ignorant and the uneducated fail to see it, and the propagandists try to hide it, or mask it over to look like something else.

The carefully orchestrated march of the New World Order elites is right there in the history books for anyone to see, provided they want to see and have brains enough to bother to look. Free enterprise means exactly that -- FREE! And free means "freedom."

Freedom is not an institution -- it is a state of being, devoid of controllers and rule makers. It is the state of life and living intended by the Creator of the Universe.

Capitalism, by contrast, is an institution, and all institutions have rulers and governors, who carefully control what that institution does and everybody involved with it. Institutions are not allowed to run amuck, because anything running amuck goes its own way and cannot achieve the intended goal.

And the intended goal of capitalism is absolute control of everything and everyone.

Republican Jewish Coalition Undertaking Concerted Efforts to Undermine Rand Paul's Political Ambitions

Rand Paul has a plan to win over the country

But he needs to convince his own party first
 

April 14, 2014

Yahoo News - There’s an obnoxious game that politicians play around the halfway point between presidential elections. They dangle the possibility of making their own White House run with a wink and a nudge — not to mention a steady diet of airplane pretzels — as they zip between early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Then they brush aside political reporters who ask them if they’re considering a presidential bid, quizzing them as to why they’re always so obsessed with politics.

“What I’m doing is very simply thanking and encouraging grassroots activists,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said innocently in Manchester Saturday when asked if he was testing the presidential waters during a weekend swing through New Hampshire. 

While there, he met with state party officials and spoke at a conference of conservative activists.

Cruz may very well choose not run for president in 2016, but let’s get real. The guy’s not test-driving New Hampshire for a joy ride. Those Live Free or Die tires are feeling the swift kick of a pair of black Texas-made ostrich-skin boots.

Not to pick on Cruz. His finely tuned answer is the descendent of a long line of genially vague quotes from aspiring presidents who’ve said the same sort of thing over the years. But Cruz's answer contrasts sharply with the way Rand Paul, the junior Republican senator from Kentucky and son of failed three-time presidential contender Ron Paul, is approaching his own possible run. 

“I’m seriously considering it,” Paul regularly tells anyone who asks. 

Aides who work for him are equally up front about his goal in private. His travel schedule, which regularly includes stops in Des Moines and Manchester, suggest that he’s working toward a White House run.

In New Hampshire right now, it is a period of calm before the storm. Party activists here from both major political parties are focused intently on winning the midterm elections this November, although they don’t mind a little titillating presidential foreplay in the duller moments. Potential presidential candidates aren’t yet intensively locking down field reps, although they are window shopping with the intent to buy when the time is right. Two aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Matt Mowers and Colin Reed, recently started working in New Hampshire politics — Mowers as the executive director of the state party and Reed as an aide to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown. In Iowa, Paul recently picked up the state's Republican Party chairman, A.J. Spiker, to work for his PAC. It was a coming home of sorts for Spiker, who co-chaired former congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign in Iowa in 2012.

For now, Sen. Paul’s focus is on expanding the appeal of his party, which has had branding problems of late, particularly among single women, minorities and young voters. He has taken a cue from his father, an unimposing little man in his 70s with a baffling knack for attracting university arenas full of students, by speaking at colleges across the country. In the wake of revelations of the federal government’s domestic spying program, he sees a unique opportunity for Republicans to reach young people who don’t want the feds snooping on their iPhones.

“It’s an area where we can connect with people who haven’t been connecting. Obama won the youth vote 3 to 1, but he’s losing them now,” Paul told a gathering of New Hampshire Republicans in Dover on Friday. 

“Hillary Clinton’s as bad or worse on all of these issues. It’s a way we can transform and make the party bigger and win again. But we have to be as proud of the Fourth Amendment as much as we are the Second Amendment.”

Other Republicans seem to be taking notice. On Saturday in Manchester at the New Hampshire Freedom Summit, a conference for conservative activists hosted by Citizens United and Americans for Prosperity where Paul, Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and several other well-known Republicans spoke, most speakers devoted sections of their remarks to the National Security Agency’s spying program.

While Paul strives to reach young voters, his travels have taken him to historically black colleges, where he has spoken out against the ongoing federal drug war and imprisoning of millions of young black men for nonviolent crimes. It is through this message, Paul says, that Republicans can find an opening with a constituency that has largely voted as a bloc for Democrats since the civil rights era. Some of this push is also reactive: Paul has previously come under fire for making controversial comments about the Civil Rights Act, and Democrats think he is extremely vulnerable on racial issues. But that doesn't mean Paul's views are insincere or will have no impact on GOP thinking longer-term.

“I truly do care about the injustice and what it’s done to voting,” Paul told me when we met Friday at a pizza place in downtown Manchester. “Everyone’s talking about voter ID. Voter ID is one-one thousandths of the problem compared to felony disenfranchisement. I think there’s 150,000 people in Kentucky who can’t vote because of a felony conviction. Probably half or more are black.”

A number of high-profile Republicans have begun to explore Paul’s ideas about prison reform, albeit cautiously. In the Senate, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Utah Sen. Mike Lee have teamed up with Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin on a bill to reduce minimum sentencing requirements. In the states, Republican governors around the country, particularly outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, are re-examining their own state laws on how the government handles drug cases.

Changing or reforming these laws, of course, won’t transform the GOP into a less white and less old party overnight, but it does give Republicans something to talk about with new constituencies.

And Paul isn’t just interested in growing the party by wooing people of color. He wants the party to move beyond calls for ideological purity, even if it means giving party blessings to members who stray from the official platform.

When asked by a reporter on Friday in Dover about Republicans who support same-sex marriage, Paul replied: 

“I think the party’s a big party and can include people with a variety of opinions. I think that in some ways we need to agree to disagree on some of these issues, in the sense that the party needs to be bigger, we need to understand that people have somewhat of regional attitudes towards the issues. … I think there’s an arrogance to having an absolute litmus test.”

Paul's call for openness reflects a growing understanding that the party will need to present itself differently if it hopes to win at the national level again. Huckabee, a Southern Baptist conservative who opposes allowing same-sex couples to marry and who recently questioned President Barack Obama’s commitment to faith because the president changed his views on the matter, also called for more ideological room within the party when asked similar question in Manchester on Saturday.

“There’s room in the party for people to have different viewpoints, there always has. I don’t know why we would suddenly have this moment where we would start acting as if there’s only a few viewpoints that are valid,” Huckabee said. “As far as in the general election, I think it’s nonsense that people would vote against someone because of an issue that a president would probably not have a lot of input on anyway.”

So what does all of this have to do with Paul’s presidential ambitions? Plenty. Paul is steadily working to carve an important niche among Republicans as a voice in the ongoing effort to remake the party at the national level. To win a general election, presidential candidates need to appeal to broad swaths of voters — not just hardcore conservatives — and Paul, who on many issues is a hardcore conservative, is crafting a plan that he thinks will do just that.

And yet Paul’s most skeptical audience may well be inside the Republican Party itself. Much of what he emphasizes is new territory for members of a party who have long embraced the mantle of being “tough on crime.” The party has also celebrated surveillance measures enacted under President George W. Bush that some members now decry as overreach when carried out under Obama.

Conservatives who embrace the party’s traditionally robust foreign policy stance have severe reservations about Paul's quest for executive power and views that the U.S. should play a more limited role abroad. Republican donors who gathered last month at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, Nev., expressed concern over Paul’s rise, telling Time magazine that they may have to undertake concerted efforts to undermine his political ambitions over such positions as cutting off all U.S. aid to Israel and other countries. Republican mega donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Time reported, is considering spending massive sums to keep Paul from becoming the GOP nominee.

In response, Paul insists that those concerned about his foreign policy views just need more time to hear him out. Paul plans to discuss these issues with Adelson himself in the future, he said.

“When he gets to know me, he’ll like me too,” Paul told me.

I asked Paul about the time Christie called his foreign policy “dangerous” and when former U.S. ambassador to the U.N John Bolton described Republicans like Paul as “unfit to serve.” (Both men, particularly Christie, harbor presidential ambitions of their own.)

“The people who are saying that are the dangerous people,” Paul said. “The people who wake up at night thinking of which new country they want to bomb, which new country they want to be involved in, they don’t like restraint. They don’t like reluctance to go to war. They really wouldn’t like Ronald Reagan if they read anything he wrote or were introduced to it.”

So it goes, and so it will go with greater intensity the closer these aspiring politicians get to presidential primary season. In these intervening years, party members will snipe and engage in acts of friendly fire as they skirmish over the soul of the Republican Party. All that will come to an end once Democrats choose their own nominee, at which time Republicans will, for a brief period of months in 2016, suddenly agree on everything until the second week of November.

Thank You Rand Paul for Counteracting the Propaganda

Senator Rand Paul Favors Cutting U.S. Aid to Israel

January 28, 2011

AP – Tea party-backed Republican Sen. Rand Paul favors cutting U.S. aid to Israel as part of a deficit-driven effort to slash government spending by $500 billion this year, drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans who argue the U.S. must be unwavering in its support for the longtime Mideast ally.

The freshman Kentucky lawmaker unveiled his budget proposal this week that would make significant cuts in education, housing and energy while reducing money for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by $16 billion. Paul's plan also would cut some $20 billion in overseas aid, and he said he wants to eliminate the $3 billion the United States provides to Israel annually in foreign military assistance.

"The overwhelming majority of Americans agree with Senator Paul — our current fiscal crisis makes it impossible to continue the spending policies of the past," Paul spokesman Gary Howard said in a statement responding to the criticism. "We simply cannot afford to give money away, even to our allies, with so much debt mounting on a daily basis."

The latest economic forecast puts the deficit at a record $1.5 trillion.

Paul explained his position in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, saying he respects Israel as a Democratic nation but feared funding an arms race in the Mideast. His proposal drew a swift response from Republicans and Democrats.

"We share Senator Paul's commitment to restraining the growth of federal spending, but we reject his misguided proposal to end U.S. assistance to our ally Israel," said Matthew Brooks, executive director for the Republican Jewish Coalition, in a statement Thursday. The organization counts several former senior Bush administration officials on its board of directors.

Rep. Nita Lowey of the New York, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, said the United States cannot renege on its commitment to the only Democratic nation in a dangerous region.

"Using our budget deficit as a reason to abandon Israel is inexcusable," Lowey said in a statement. "It is unclear to me whether Rand Paul speaks for the tea party, the Republican Party or simply himself. I call on all those who value the U.S.-Israel relationship to make it clear that our nation will not abandon our ally Israel."

The United States has stood staunchly with Israel for decades, through various governments in Washington and Jerusalem. The United States and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding several years ago to ensure Israel's military edge in the region. Under the agreement, Israel received $2.8 billion in U.S. dollars in the last fiscal year and is slated to get $3 billion in the current year.

The agreement calls for $3.1 billion in U.S. funds to Israel over a five-year period beginning with the next budget.

Last November, Vice President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told the Jewish Federation of North America that the Obama administration "represents an unbroken chain in American leaders who have understood this critical strategic relationship.".

The steadfast support for Israel is widespread in Congress and Paul's proposal is certain to face strong opposition. In a fresh example of that support, six senior members of the House sent a letter to President Barack Obama imploring him to promise a veto of a pending U.N. resolution that condemns Israel and urging him to pressure Palestinian leaders to negotiate directly with Israel.

Signing the letter were House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.; House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ilena Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman of California, and the heads of the committee's subcommittee on the Middle East, Reps. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio and Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y.

Rand Paul: End Aid to Israel

January 27, 2011

Reason - Pressed on CNN's Situation Room about details on his budget cut plans, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says end all foreign aid--and when pressed further says that includes to Israel.

Paul touches on the lack of wisdom of funding both sides of an arms race in the Middle East, then hat-tips to Israel's role as a fountain of peace and democracy in the Middle East, but concludes that, especially when we're borrowing all the money from China, all foreign aid has to go.

It's an interesting dance, avoiding seeming critical of Israel (which he refused to do), yet still doing the one thing that people who get upset at those who are critical of Israel want the least out of a U.S. politician: cutting off U.S. support.

Rand Paul Sues Government for NSA Spying

"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." - Thomas Jefferson

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

"Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty." - Ronald Reagan

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time." - Thomas Jefferson

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson

"In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." - Plato

Sen. Paul announces 'historic' class-action suit over NSA spying

February 12, 2014

FoxNews.com - Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday announced what he described as one of the largest class-action lawsuits in history, taking President Obama and top intelligence officials to court over National Security Agency surveillance. 

"This, we believe, will be a historic lawsuit," the Kentucky Republican said. The suit, joined by conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks, was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. 

It alleges that the NSA program that sweeps up and stores massive amounts of telephone "metadata" -- which includes where and when calls are made, but not the contents of the calls -- violates the Fourth Amendment. The suit asks the court to rule the program unconstitutional and forbid the government from continuing it.

"There's a huge and growing swell of protest in this country of people who are outraged that their records would be taken without suspicion, without a judge's warrant and without individualization," Paul said, at a press conference in Washington. 

He said hundreds of thousands of people have joined, and predicted the suit could "conceivably represent hundreds of millions of people who have phone lines in this country."

The administration has insisted that Americans' privacy is protected under NSA programs, and Obama recently announced a set of proposed reforms to rein in NSA surveillance.

"We remain confident that the program is legal, as at least 15 judges have previously found," a Justice Department spokesperson said Wednesday, referring to prior court decisions in separate cases. 

But the lawsuit argues that the bulk metadata that is routinely collected nevertheless "reveals a wealth of detail" about Americans' personal and professional associations "that are ordinarily unknown to the government."

The suit named Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, NSA Director Keith Alexander, and FBI Director James Comey.

Rand Paul’s Hilarious Explanation of Obamacare

Rand Paul’s Hilarious — Yet Revealing — Obamacare Explanation: Guess What New Injury Codes Are Included

May 28, 2013

The Blaze - Obamacare will require doctors to use roughly 122,000 new medical diagnostic codes to inform the federal government of injuries sustained by Americans, so says Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

The new codes, Sen. Paul explained, include classifications for "injuries sustained from a turtle," "walking into a lamppost" and "injuries sustained from burning water skis."

"Your government just wants to take care of you," he added, criticizing the new law's 9,000-plus pages of new regulations. "They don't think you're smart enough to make these decisions."

Physicians currently have about 18,000 medical diagnostic codes to choose from to help them inform insurers of their patients' ailments. However, as Paul (himself a physician) notes, Obamacare includes a mandate for 140,000 of those codes -- and some of them sound downright ridiculous.

"Included among these codes," the senator continued, "will be 312 new codes for injuries from animals; 72 new codes for injuries just from birds; 9 new codes for 'injuries from the macaw."'

"The macaw?" he asked. "I've asked physicians all over the country, 'Have you ever seen an injury from a macaw?"'

He continued, adding that he had found "two new injury codes under Obamacare for 'injuries sustained from a turtle."'

"Now, you might say, 'Well, turtles are dangerous' -- but why do you have to have two codes?" he asked.  "Your doctor has to inform the government whether you've been struck by a turtle or bitten by a turtle."

He added:  "There is a new code for ... walking into a lamppost. There's also a code for 'walking into a lamppost, subsequent encounter.'"

"I guess that's if you don't learn," he added. "[T]here is [also] a code ... for 'injuries sustained from burning water skis."'

Though the Republican senator delivered his speech earlier this month to the Iowa Republican Party, his Obamacare remarks have only recently gained traction online: see video by clicking on the headline link.