Why Rand Paul is a hypocrite
To start off as a preface, I was an avid supporter of Sen. Rand Paul a couple of months before he ran for President. His words and the way he really stood up for what he believed in started me down my path of critical thinking and eventually led me to become a libertarian. With that being said, Paul has repeatedly disappointed me since President Trump took office.
During the GOP debates, Sen. Paul was one of the outspoken candidates against Trump and everything that Trump stood for. Paul was also one of the major opponents against then President Obama’s executive orders. As we’ve seen in the past few weeks Paul has took up arms against his fellow Republicans that were offering not only modest criticism against President Trump, but honest criticism. Sen. Paul also stood behind President Trump when he crafted his many executive orders when he first took office, specifically the coal order that reversed President Obama’s harmful coal regulations. Now, there is a case to be made that those executive orders were justified, but since Sen. Paul specifically was against Obama’s executive orders then he should be against Trump’s executive orders no matter the content.
Another thing that irks me about Sen. Paul’s recent comments is that he was one of the biggest defenders of the fourth amendment, advocating for people like Edward Snowden, John Kiriakou and Chelsea Manning (people who have leaked government crimes). Yet he condemns the recent NSA leakers, going as far to say that they compromised national security. Now I’m no expert on national security, but if leaking secret spying programs doesn’t compromise it and leaking a “classified document” that showed General Flynn lying to the Vice President does then I think we have different definitions of what “national security” is.
The final thing that really bothers me about Sen. Paul is his unwavering support for Trump’s cabinet picks. Specifically his support for Sen. Jeff Sessions to become the next US Attorney General. Jeff Sessions is the paradigm of the liberty movement in the Republican Party because of his stance on civil asset forfeiture, something that Sen. Paul’s colleagues in the Liberty Caucus are trying to end.
With all of that being said, Senator Rand Paul is still one of the most outspoken defenders of the Constitution in the Senate and I will continue to support him even though it is getting more and more difficult. It is rare that in these times we have someone like Senator Paul who deeply cares about his duties to his constituents. Hopefully the Senator will come to his senses and stop acting and adhering to partisan politics like his other colleagues or I fear that I will be forced to stop supporting him and his cause.
