Rand Pauluses and Minuses - The Year in Rand
Happy pre-New Year, everyone! I hope each and every one of you has stayed on this Randcraft - this boat sailing midst an unpredictable sea, this schooner with a #Randypants sail - with me all year long. And yes, it has been virtually a year. This column started in January of this year - oh, the hours...but here we are at the end of 2015 and I would be remiss if I didn't recap the highlights and lowlights (or PAULUSES and Minuses as the case may be) of THE YEAR IN RAND.2015's BIGGEST PAULUSESJustice Reform - Rand has been talking about this for the whole year, starting in January in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and in the wake of Eric Garner's tragic and unnecessary death at the hands of the police.Rand referred to the inequality in the application of the law, specifically drug laws, unfairly targeting black Americans as the "other America," which echoed MLK's statements. Rand made a point to speak at multiple black colleges and universities about the issue of justice reform and has made it a center point of his political platform. The caveat to that is that Rand hasn't actually voiced this in a single debate, nor opted to bring it up in his opening or closing statements.Still, he's one of the only politicians talking about the issue.Audit the Fed - Rand brought his father's signature bill back to light this year, essentially re-opening the argument that the Federal Reserve, which - let's not forget - is an institution that stands apart from the government, yet wields unbelievable financial influence and control of the monetary supply, should and must have open books to Congress.Legalization of Medical Marijuana - Rand combined forces with Corey Booker and Katherine Gillibrand to put forth a bill to legalize medical marijuana on a federal level. So please tell everyone you can that Bernie Sanders didn't create this concept. Rand also put forth the PACT act - a bill that would help to smooth financial problems for marijuana based businesses that still face federal walls and prosecution for banking.Halting Executive Action on the 2nd Amendment - President Obama has been blustering on about using executive orders and actions - which circumvent Congress and the system of checks and balances - to infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans. Rand has recently put forth a bill that would halt the execution of any presidential order impacting gun rights until it can be considered and either approved or rejected by Congress.PATRIOT Act expiration & Filibuster - The crowning achievement as far as I'm concerned is Rand's filibuster of the PATRIOT Act, which resulted in many of the most atrocious spying provisions of the bill expiring. It was a brave and appropriate act for a man who billed himself as a "libertarian-leaning" candidate, and inspired millions of Americans. Unfortunately, the USA Freedom Act followed it up, which brings arguably worse provisions that don't ever expire, but Rand's stand was still highly impressive.2015's BIGGEST MINUSESMilitary action & ISIS - Rand, who has touted himself as the "anti-war" candidate, has had a couple snafus during 2015, including his stating that he would support military action against ISIS. Rand has also demanded that the U.S. officially declare war against the organization - which in itself is a quagmire-esque proposition. Considering the evidence that American actions in the Middle East have led to the creation of ISIS, which Rand himself has declared, this position is unsupportable."Open Letter to Iran" & opposition to Iran Nuke Bill - Rand took a stance against Iran in a strong and quixotic way, not only signing the dreaded and embarrassing "Open Letter to Iran," which condemned any action by the President that would forward nuclear negotiations with Iran and was frankly, absurd. Rand couches his support for this letter by saying that Congress should be involved, which is fine and good, but considering the progress made, was petty. He then voiced opposition to the deal President Obama made, which the majority of logical Americans viewed as a good thing and a path back to normalcy in talks with Iran while also opening up that nation to added nuclear scrutiny, saying it "didn't go far enough." This was petty, stupid and counterproductive.Gay Marriage - Overall, Rand was pretty awful on the topic of gay marriage. He had some good thoughts, such as his opinion that the government should get out of the marriage game altogether, leaving it up to private contracts between individuals. That's one good idea! Of course, he followed that up by stating that "gay marriage offends him." Add Rand's support of Kim Davis, couched in supposed "religious freedom" and a states rights straw man argument and you have a pretty pathetic showing.Arm the Kurds - why would a man who has professed time and time again that the U.S. shouldn't arm it's enemies, and that every time America provides arms to a foreign "ally" in the Middle East it's come back to harm us, profess a fondness to go ahead and arm yet another fighting force? Because that's what Rand wants to do with the Kurds, who reside in Northern Iraq and Southern Turkey, to help them fight America's enemies in the region. You can't cite history as a cautionary tale, Rand, then cherry pick how to apply it.SECURE ACT - The most recent and one of the most shameful bills Rand has ever written, and one that was DESTROYED in the Senate, garnering a sad ten total votes. The SECURE Act was Rand's irrational response to the Paris ISIS attacks and the U.S. taking in Syrian refugees. Essentially this act would ban visas indefinitely for people from 34 "jihadist" nations until "stricter" security measures could be put into place. Refugees already undergo incredibly strict screening that takes up to two years, and this would harm innumerable other innocents from foreign nations. It's nonsensical, reactionary and ill-conceived. When you can't even get a panicked Senate to approve this piece of garbage, you know it's bad.Rand's Presidential Campaign - In general, Rand's campaign has been disjointed and disappointing. He lost early momentum through wishy-washy libertarian positions that alienated his father's strong base. He attempted to woo the broader GOP, further angering libertarians and those who had followed him as a principled politician, and with each addition to the presidential field seemed to weaken in his resolve on his own stances. He even lost ground on issues he owned, like the NSA and the budget to the likes of Ted Cruz. It's been a letdown in every way - better as of late, but still underwhelming and frustrating, unfitting of the vibrant support and political fervor that his father's "take no prisoners" campaign invoked.The Current “Paulus-Minus” Tally: 145 Pauluses / 44 Minuses / 11 PushDiscuss this and so much more in our private Facebook Group: The Lions of Liberty Forum!Be sure to check out our "Year in #RandyPants Podcast!"Download this episode (right click and save)Check out the full “Rand Pauluses and Minuses” Archive!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Check out our YouTube Channel!Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
