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View Full Version : Rand Paul Talks Drug War, NSA, and Land Rights in Libertarian-Friendly Nevada




Sola_Fide
04-11-2015, 04:12 PM
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-11/rand-paul-talks-drug-war-nsa-and-land-rights-in-libertarian-friendly-nevada



One of the Paul movement's strongholds turns out to end his tour.

LAS VEGAS -- Everywhere he's gone this week, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has referenced the "enterprise zones" he has proposed to create tax havens for blighted communities. In Nevada, for the first time, the mention of a wonky program devised for inner cities and Appalachia got a "woo-hoo!"

Paul paused, upon hearing this exclamation. "You like that!" he said, seeking out the superfan in his crowd. The senator was wrapping up his five-state tour of early primary states in one of the most fertile fields of the "liberty movement." The event center of the Desert Vista community, a strongly conservative suburb of Las Vegas, was filled to capacity; rows of chairs for some older supporters ringed the stage, and younger people (or late arrivals) stood all the way back to the walls.

Edward Waldron, the 28-year old U-Haul assistant manager who'd cheered for enterprise zones, is among the libertarian-minded voters who make Nevada so tempting for Paul. His father's campaign performed strongly in the state twice. In 2008, Ron Paul's 13.7 percent of the caucus vote was good enough for second place. In the more competitive 2012 caucuses, Ron Paul won 18.7 percent, taking the sparsely populated rural counties of Nye and Esmerelda. And when Nevada Republicans met to affirm their presidential votes at later caucuses, Paul supporters dominated, sending a pro-Paul slate to the Republican convention.


“Anybody think that Nevada needs more federal regulations on your land? Anybody think you might do a better job of managing the land?”

—Rand Paul

That grassroots support could be key to Rand Paul's 2016 campaign. On Saturday, Paul was introduced not by a legislator but by Daphne Lee, a woman who in 2013 had given a public comment to the Clark County commission, asking it to prohibit any local law enforcement from cooperating with the National Defense Authorization Act. "You cannot apply the laws of war to this country and expect the Bill of Rights to be upheld!" she said then. That speech went viral and helped launch People Against the National Defense Authorization, or PANDA.

"I have been honored by all the support from liberty-loving activists across our state," said Lee Saturday, "but we still need more help. We need help from a new president."

When Paul took the stage, clad in a bright orange shirt, he started in on a new riff about how many words were in the regulations that no Americans got the chance to vote on.

"God only knows how many words have been written to distinguish the greater prairie chicken from the lesser prairie chicken," said Paul. "Anybody think that Nevada needs more federal regulations on your land? Anybody think you might do a better job of managing the land?"

Paul hit most libertarian themes of his announcement-week speech. He was more intense this time, as if the Nevada audience was more primed for an uncomfortable conversation about the state run amok.

"Go meet people who live in poverty, and ask them why their sons all seem to be incarcerated or killed," he said. "The war on drugs has created a culture of violence and put police in an impossible situation. Three out of four people in jail for drug crimes are people of color, but if you look at the statistics, white people are using drugs at the same rate. We have somehow snatched up so many people of one race that it is now unfair, and we should do something to make it fair.

Paul's audience — largely white, as has been the case in every state — broke into loud cheers. It did the same after Paul mentioned the case of Eric Garner. "If a guy is selling loose cigarettes and not paying the king's ransom in taxes, couldn't we give him a ticket?"

The concerns of Nevada's libertarians can veer toward topics that presidential candidates might want to shy away from. In conversations before and after the speech, some of them worried that the federal government was seizing land in order to hand it over to China; one man wore a T-shirt with the slogan "If the troops defended freedom, they'd attack the government." He'd bought it from the website of Adam Kokesh, a "voluntaryist" (more than libertarian) TV and radio host who'd been jailed (then freed) after cocking a weapon in Washington to flout the city's gun laws.

Paul's speech focused on more immediate and mainstream worries about the state. His biggest applause came when he condemned the mass collection of data.

"The president created this vast dragnet by executive order — not the first time he's done that," said Paul. "As president on day one, I will immediately end this unconstitutional program."

"That's right!" yelled Edward Waldron. "Absolutely! That's right!"

ctiger2
04-11-2015, 04:18 PM
When is Rand going to talk about the most important issue of them all, ending the federal reserve system?

Sola_Fide
04-11-2015, 04:26 PM
When is Rand going to talk about the most important issue of them all, ending the federal reserve system?

I'm wondering that myself. I was really disappointed that he didn't even mention it in his announcement speech. There were "end the fed" chants in the crowd that day as well...

CPUd
04-11-2015, 04:29 PM
Rand doesn't want to directly end the Fed, he has sponsored bills to require comprehensive audits of the Fed.

Brett85
04-11-2015, 04:39 PM
Rand doesn't want to directly end the Fed, he has sponsored bills to require comprehensive audits of the Fed.

He probably does but just can't mention it publicly. But he's talked about auditing the Fed as you said, and I believe he's talked about going back to the gold standard or at least allowing competing currencies. That's probably as good as we can expect. Advocating ending the Fed is merely an intellectual argument rather than an argument based on the reality of the political landscape today. Rand isn't going to waste his time going around the country having some type of libertarian seminar. He's in it to win it and is going to advocate policies that have at least some chance of being enacted.

GunnyFreedom
04-11-2015, 04:39 PM
Rand doesn't want to directly end the Fed, he has sponsored bills to require comprehensive audits of the Fed.

Pretty sure the whole point of the audit, is to generate enough outrage to fuel a solid 'end the fed' movement. I want to end the fed as bad as anybody, but I am glad he did not include it in his announcement. While it is red meat to us, it is still one that most of the regular Primary voters do not understand. An announcement speech should focus on stuff everyone understands, everyone agrees with, and everyone likes. It is better to put the Federal Reserve back into the nuts and bolts speeches he will be giving during the campaign.

ThePaleoLibertarian
04-11-2015, 04:41 PM
I'm very glad that Rand is sticking to his principles on the drug war. I do wish he'd be more upfront on wanting to end the thing, but the fact that he wants real reform will resonate very heavily with my generation. I'm going to love how the progs among my fellow millenials spin supporting an authoritarian like Rodham over Rand.

When is Rand going to talk about the most important issue of them all, ending the federal reserve system?
That isn't going to be a focus of this campaign in the slightest. There is unfortunately, no political will to end the Fed. Not from the electorate or from any branch of government. It would take nothing short of a constitutional amendment to rid ourselves of that godforsaken monstrosity.

CPUd
04-11-2015, 04:48 PM
That's what I meant. He's not going to say it until he can do so without being labeled a crackpot for it.

nikcers
04-11-2015, 04:49 PM
When I showed up Rands people were still trying to let us in, but the venue said the capacity was full. I waited outside in the courtyard with about 30 other people where they played the speech live over P.A. A lot of people got mad because Rands people kept trying to let people in but the venue kept telling people they cant come in because it was over capacity. He came out afterwards and shook everyone's hands that waited outside the venue.

eleganz
04-11-2015, 04:52 PM
When is Rand going to talk about the most important issue of them all, ending the federal reserve system?

When you make progress, capitalize on that progress. We made Audit the FED a popular thing but many people still think ENDing the FED is risky and dangerous because they don't truly understand how it all works. If we can get people to agree to Audit the FED, then we should push to Audit the FED. Maybe Rand doesn't think the FED is an issue that'll draw enough people together, maybe enough people don't get the FED. Its an issue Rand is strong on and we know because he is pushing for it in the Senate. You think its the most important issue, maybe others don't.

muh_roads
04-11-2015, 04:57 PM
That isn't going to be a focus of this campaign in the slightest. There is unfortunately, no political will to end the Fed. Not from the electorate or from any branch of government. It would take nothing short of a constitutional amendment to rid ourselves of that godforsaken monstrosity.

You don't need to end the fed anymore. Alternative currencies now exist to allow people to IGNORE the Fed.

What would make a lot more sense short term is to pursue the abolishment of Legal Tender Laws which would officially legalize currency competition.

If that can be done, we win.

ThePaleoLibertarian
04-11-2015, 04:58 PM
That's what I meant. He's not going to say it until he can do so without being labeled a crackpot for it.
Pretty much. Radicalism is an unfortunate death sentence when it comes to Presidential ambitions. It seems perfectly reasonable to people like us, but ending the Fed would totally upend the entire monetary system. If you take a step back you realize that it's one of the most radical positions one can advocate.

ThePaleoLibertarian
04-11-2015, 05:03 PM
You don't need to end the fed anymore. Alternative currencies now exist to allow people to IGNORE the Fed.
Maybe someday bitcoin and other crypto-currencies will be an alternative to the notes the printing press creates, but that day has unfortunately yet to arrive.


What would make a lot more sense short term is to pursue the abolishment of Legal Tender Laws which would officially legalize currency competition.

If that can be done, we win.
That would be every bit as hard as abolishing the fed.

T.hill
04-11-2015, 05:14 PM
That's what I meant. He's not going to say it until he can do so without being labeled a crackpot for it.



“I think there needs to be some sunshine. I’m going to fight ’em, and we’re going to get a vote on audit the Fed,” he said to applause from the crowd.

...

The younger Mr. Paul said in his speech that the Fed’s book-keeping and monetary policies could lead to serious economic troubles, alleging that the central bank was deeply leveraged and that only an audit could sort out its current state.

“They’re leveraged three times greater than Lehman Brothers was when Lehman Brothers went belly up,” Mr. Paul said, referring to the financial services firm that went bankrupt during the 2008 financial crisis.

...

He blamed the Fed’s interest-rate setting policies for making income inequality worse, saying that wealthy Americans could survive an era of low interest rates because they had a diversified portfolio of assets. Low-income Americans, Mr. Paul said, weren't seeing their wealth kept in bank accounts grow because of low-interest rates set by the central bank.



In addition, Mr. Paul expressed support for the Fed’s eventual abolition, though he said that the current rate of borrowing by the United States government was the reason a central bank was needed now.

“People say, ’Well, just get rid of the Fed’—which would be great,” said Mr. Paul. “But the reason we have a Fed is because we have debt.”
* * *

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-07/rand-paul-explains-what-dollar-backed-used-car-loans-bad-home-loans-distressed-asset

Think again.

muh_roads
04-11-2015, 05:25 PM
Maybe someday bitcoin and other crypto-currencies will be an alternative to the notes the printing press creates, but that day has unfortunately yet to arrive.

It's already happening. I am ignoring my bank little by little every day. If you are foreigner, Xapo launched their International Debit Card and Bitwage can convert your entire salary to BTC. Completely cutting your legacy fiat bank out of the loop.


That would be every bit as hard as abolishing the fed.

I'm not saying it would be easy, but there is a multi-billion industry now with an incentive to do so if the gov't tries to get fussy.

JohnGalt1225
04-11-2015, 05:34 PM
I fully believe Rand wants to end the Fed. I want to end the Fed, I think we all do; however, there is no political will or power to get it done. I think when Rand calls for a thorough audit of the Fed he is hoping that the people are so shocked and outraged that it will spur a larger movement to end the Fed. That is why the Fed fights tooth and nail to keep it's activities private.

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
-Henry Ford

Rand is trying to get people to understand how it works so that revolution does happen, but he can't do that if he is not in power.

Vanguard101
04-11-2015, 06:27 PM
Rand has already come out and said he wants the Fed dead. This shouldn't be a priority for us though

Badger Paul
04-12-2015, 11:20 AM
What a typical Weigel article. Let's find some kooky people and smear Rand with their mere presence at one of his rallies, even though Rand as we all know is the very last person who would take a selfie with them. It's amazing Weigel still approaches the Pauls in this manner when the whole point of Rand's campaign was to show how seperate and mainstream the "movement" is.

A guy in t-shirt at a rally doesn't mean a damn thing. It's the candidate and what he stands for and how he acts that matters. It's pathetic how Weigel continues to report in this fashion. It's like he'd go to a gay pride parade and report just on all the fellows wearing assless-chaps. It's ridiculous.