I Still Stand for Rand

.

.

.

rand paul 2Yes, it is very disheartening that Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) decided to pull out of the presidential race and suspend his operations due to a disappointing Iowa caucus finish. Rand was hoping for a Top 3 finish, but getting blocked by the mainstream media from the average American on television is indeed a very difficult handicap.

Rand Paul was doing fairly good until Donald Trump was running, but when the Trump decided to run, the air from Rand’s campaign started to dissipate.  Young voters that followed his father in 2012 moved to Bernie Sanders, and Islamic Radicals decided to attack Paris. This did not bode well for his campaign.

Rand was one of the best choices in 2016 where he was able to connect to communities that did not normally vote for the Republican Party with issues such as criminal sentencing reform, privacy advocacy and a non-interventionist foreign policy.

I was tempted to consider other candidates in the hours after the announcement of the “suspension” of his presidential campaign. I know Trump is no friend of liberty because he likes eminent domain, and his immigration views are over the top. Personally I would support work permits, but a long wait for citizenship where any felony would disqualify those individuals permanently. However, I was also not pleased by Senator Ted Cruz where he was only delivering watered-down Rand Paul ideas with a Jesus beat. Because Cruz was saying he wanted to “make sand glow in the dark in the Middle East” and make us LGBT people a wedge issue, he becomes an unacceptable choice for many voters.

It’s true that Rand Paul has quit the race, but in many states he’ll still be on the ballot. If you are fed up of the candidates in the media spotlight and want someone thoughtful to run this country of ours you are invited to vote for him in June, if Secretary Alex Padilla puts his name up for the primary vote. Vote for a candidate that you’ll feel good voting for. Don’t vote for them because the news media and the status quo say you need to vote for the anointed one. Vote for someone that you can be proud that you voted for him or her two, four or even eight years from now.

Politics is a messy business, but politics does start from the bottom. Run for school board, city council or even state legislature. It is rare for someone to start from the top such as Governor of a state, but we should develop a public service history, if we want to be able to advocate for less government or a government that is effective.


About Matt Munson