Brian4Liberty
10-20-2015, 12:00 PM
Rand Paul wants GOP to be 'the party of justice' (http://cjonline.com/news/2015-10-10/bob-beatty-rand-paul-wants-gop-be-party-justice)
By Bob Beatty - October 10, 2015
WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul often tells people that he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010 because he was so frustrated with American politics.
“Why go from being a physician to a not-so-well respected profession in Washington, D.C.? I got tired of throwing things at the TV,” he tells a crowd.
He tells another crowd in Waukee, Iowa, that “The more honest answer is that I was disappointed. Disappointed in Republicans who had doubled the debt when we were in charge.” Now he is running for president because of his continuing frustration with the path of his party and a “horribly broken” government in Washington.
“We need to be clear what we stand for, not just Democrat-lite.” Paul said. “We need to be more boldly for what we’re boldly for, which is: tax cuts, balanced budgets, and smaller government.”
Those are fairly standard Republican mantras, but Paul differs from many of his opponents by advocating for less government not only in economic matters but also in citizens’ personal lives.
The ophthalmologist from Kentucky says that if the GOP could reposition itself as the “party of justice” and compassion for all Americans, it would be able to expand its appeal.
“You gotta run somebody who says, you know what, not only are we the party of the Second Amendment, we’re going to be the party of the Fourth Amendment,” he said. “We’re going to be the party that respects your right to privacy.
“We need to be the party of the entire Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights isn’t so much for the prom queen. The Bill of Rights isn’t so much for the high school quarterback. The Bill of Rights is for the least popular among us. We need to protect the rights of the minority.”
...
When Paul was in Waterloo, Iowa, he argued that President Barack Obama has expanded executive branch power too much.
“We’re supposed to have co-equal branches of power,” he said. “James Madison wrote that ‘Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.’ Montesquieu said that when the executive begins to legislate, then a form of tyranny will ensue.”
In Washington, Iowa, Paul told the crowd that the government was prying into citizens’ private lives in the name of national security and that it was essential that citizens have the right to privacy.
“John Adams said the spark that led to the revolution was British soldiers writing their own warrants and looking at people’s papers,” he said.
In Williamsburg, he said, “The Constitution envisioned a very small government. Most things should be done at the state level.”
...
Will Paul’s approach, with his emphasis on the rights of the accused, the right to privacy, and sentencing reform, work in a party that has in previous years pushed for tougher drug sentencing laws?
It might be a tough sell, but he believes that “when we show compassion for the least among us, we are gonna be a party that rocks and rolls and dominates across America again.”
It’s also a tough sell since it means taking his fellow Republicans out of their comfort zone. “To win,” he told Iowans in Waukee, “we’ve got to take our message to people who aren’t here today. We’ve got to take our message to people who don’t look like us, who may not work in the same profession, who have not been Republicans.
“We’ve got to do something different.”
...
More: http://cjonline.com/news/2015-10-10/bob-beatty-rand-paul-wants-gop-be-party-justice
By Bob Beatty - October 10, 2015
WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul often tells people that he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010 because he was so frustrated with American politics.
“Why go from being a physician to a not-so-well respected profession in Washington, D.C.? I got tired of throwing things at the TV,” he tells a crowd.
He tells another crowd in Waukee, Iowa, that “The more honest answer is that I was disappointed. Disappointed in Republicans who had doubled the debt when we were in charge.” Now he is running for president because of his continuing frustration with the path of his party and a “horribly broken” government in Washington.
“We need to be clear what we stand for, not just Democrat-lite.” Paul said. “We need to be more boldly for what we’re boldly for, which is: tax cuts, balanced budgets, and smaller government.”
Those are fairly standard Republican mantras, but Paul differs from many of his opponents by advocating for less government not only in economic matters but also in citizens’ personal lives.
The ophthalmologist from Kentucky says that if the GOP could reposition itself as the “party of justice” and compassion for all Americans, it would be able to expand its appeal.
“You gotta run somebody who says, you know what, not only are we the party of the Second Amendment, we’re going to be the party of the Fourth Amendment,” he said. “We’re going to be the party that respects your right to privacy.
“We need to be the party of the entire Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights isn’t so much for the prom queen. The Bill of Rights isn’t so much for the high school quarterback. The Bill of Rights is for the least popular among us. We need to protect the rights of the minority.”
...
When Paul was in Waterloo, Iowa, he argued that President Barack Obama has expanded executive branch power too much.
“We’re supposed to have co-equal branches of power,” he said. “James Madison wrote that ‘Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.’ Montesquieu said that when the executive begins to legislate, then a form of tyranny will ensue.”
In Washington, Iowa, Paul told the crowd that the government was prying into citizens’ private lives in the name of national security and that it was essential that citizens have the right to privacy.
“John Adams said the spark that led to the revolution was British soldiers writing their own warrants and looking at people’s papers,” he said.
In Williamsburg, he said, “The Constitution envisioned a very small government. Most things should be done at the state level.”
...
Will Paul’s approach, with his emphasis on the rights of the accused, the right to privacy, and sentencing reform, work in a party that has in previous years pushed for tougher drug sentencing laws?
It might be a tough sell, but he believes that “when we show compassion for the least among us, we are gonna be a party that rocks and rolls and dominates across America again.”
It’s also a tough sell since it means taking his fellow Republicans out of their comfort zone. “To win,” he told Iowans in Waukee, “we’ve got to take our message to people who aren’t here today. We’ve got to take our message to people who don’t look like us, who may not work in the same profession, who have not been Republicans.
“We’ve got to do something different.”
...
More: http://cjonline.com/news/2015-10-10/bob-beatty-rand-paul-wants-gop-be-party-justice