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Rand Paul, Official Senate Photo

COGwriter

US Senator Rand Paul has announced his candidacy for the office of US President:

April 7, 2015

WASHINGTON — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul officially joined the 2016 presidential race today, hoping to remake the Republican Party with a mix of libertarian and conservative ideals that can attract minorities and young people.

On his campaign website, Paul announced, “I am running for president to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government.” The announcement includes a video testimonial from his wife, Kelley Ashby Paul. …

The GOP primary could pit Paul, Cruz and Rubio against each other as they vie for the votes of Tea Party supporters who backed them for the Senate. But the competition is viewed as healthy for Republicans eager to take back the White House.

“It’s a positive thing that so many potential candidates do support our values,” said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. “It shows our values are once again front and center in the political discussion in America.”

Since his Senate election in 2010, Paul has positioned himself to be a more relatable — and electable — politician than his father, Ron.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/04/07/rand-paul-president-2016-announcement/25041783/

April 7, 2015

So far, Paul joins only Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as a declared candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. But the field is certain to grow in the months ahead with Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham and others eyeing a campaign. Marco Rubio, a Florida GOP senator, is expected to launch his campaign next week.

For now, the nomination is up for grabs with no clear front-runner. Paul came in third place at 12% in a CNN/ORC International Poll of Republicans. Bush led the pack at 16% while Walker came in second at 13%. …

He’s steered clear of such hot-button issues more recently. Last week, for example, he was one of the few Republicans who didn’t weigh in on religious freedom laws in Indiana and Arkansas that critics argued would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

Paul has also worked to maintain a following that includes a large swath of young voters who he partly inherited from his father. Heavy on tech and social media, his political team has opened an office in Austin, Texas, and will soon establish one in the heart of Silicon Valley. Like clockwork, Paul frequently holds up his phone during his stump speech and declares that what people do on their smartphones is “none of the government’s damn business.”

His nontraditional style is complemented by Paul’s wardrobe. The senator is known for wearing blue jeans with boots and a blazer when he’s on the trail, and during the winter, he opts for a turtleneck and sport coat rather than a tie.

But in his quest to become a national figure, Paul’s comments have come under scrutiny and some of his statements have led critics to question whether he’s ready for prime time.  http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/politics/rand-paul-president-2016/

While I am in favor of the principles of liberty and limited government, perhaps I should point out that Mother Jones accuses Rand Paul, basically, of hypocrisy:

April 7, 2015

• Rand Paul could be the most interesting conspiracy theorist in Washington.
• Before pocketing special interest cash, Paul railed against big-money influence in politics.
• He was in favor of cutting US aid to Israel—before he was against it.
• His feud with Dick Cheney goes way back, and it’s nasty.
• Like his father, Paul has argued for a less aggressive US foreign policy—but slammed Obama for not being tough enough on Russia.
• Paul has continued to challenge the GOP’s hawks, but has toned down his rhetoric recently.
• His record on domestic violence and gender pay equity is far from exemplary.
• Paul has been vocal on criminal-justice reform, and he wants to allow ex-felons in his state to vote.
• If nothing else, Paul’s turtlenecks and jeans have won him the fashion primary. The crazy-dad primary, in which Rand will have to duke out with Ted Cruz, will be another story.  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/rand-paul-running-president-heres-what-you-need-know

Rand Paul’s public position on abortion is similar to that of many in the Democratic party 30 years or so ago:

“My personal religious belief is that life begins at the very beginning,” Paul said, before adding that the abortion debate was polarized between believers in “all life and no abortion, or all abortion and no life.”

To many conservatives, reducing the idea that life begins at conception to a “personal religious belief” — more or less how Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry characterized it in a 2004 presidential debate — cedes the moral and scientific high ground…

Now, the conventional wisdom is that Paul’s relatively libertarian foreign-policy views are the biggest threat to him in the 2016 GOP primaries. That may indeed be what motivates spending on a barrage of anti-Paul ads in the early states, and perhaps beyond. But losing the social conservative vote in Iowa and South Carolina — either to someone like Ted Cruz or a pure Christian right candidate — is actually Paul’s most immediate obstacle. http://theweek.com/article/index/260526/rand-pauls-biggest-2016-challenge-social-issues

On the homosexual marriage issue, he too is opposed to it, but not that much. Here is what On The Issues had on Rand Paul’s views of this some time back:

• Redefining marriage leads to economic and moral problems. (Jun 2013)
• No national law on same-sex marriage; leave it to states. (May 2013)
• Let states decide same-sex marriage; don’t federalize it. (Mar 2013)
• Opposes same-sex marriage. (Nov 2009) http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm#Families_+_Children

He is certainly right that redefining marriage will lead to economic and moral problems. If he truly holds that view, then he should be opposed to homosexual marriages everywhere.  His lack of support of the Indiana law is consistent with my long standing view that he is trying to be less offensive to the homosexual lobby.

Of course, the Bible teaches:

12…. Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths. (Isaiah 3:12)

At his Senate website, Rand Paul had the following about his positions on certain matters:

• Budget

  Reckless levels of spending in Washington have been occurring for far too long. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the size of government has grown by more than 100 percent in the last decade. To put this in perspective, the federal government spends more than $10,280 per person, over $3,000 more per individual than what we were spending in 2001.

• Civil Liberties

  The Founding Fathers warned of a Federal Government bent on usurping the power, rights, and privacy of its States and citizens. In the last nine years, the Federal Government has expanded the scope of its power at an alarming rate, while blatantly ignoring the Constitution…

• Regulation

  If Congress is to impose regulations and laws on U.S. citizens, it is important that those citizens are made aware of how they come to be. Cutting red tape and opening the regulatory process to scrutiny is an important step in holding government accountable to all Americans…

• Taxes

  There is absolutely no question that the United States Tax Code needs to be reformed. In fact, it is long overdue. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has in service roughly 480 forms, and an additional 280 forms of explanation. Burdensome tax regulations imposed by our broken tax code are too complicated for most Americans and many must hire accountants to prepare their taxes. If tax compliance were its own industry, it would be among the largest in the country.

He is right about the budget and certain other matters. Whether or not he can fix the budget problem is another matter. But if it is not fixed, the USA will be doomed (Habakkuk 2:6-8).

Last year, Rand Paul beat potential Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in a poll in Colorado for president (see Rand Paul beats Hillary Clinton in Colorado Presidential Poll).  Hillary Clinton may well be the Democratic candidate (reports out the past couple of days indicate she may announce her own candidacy later this month), but there are many more states than Colorado (and voters in Colorado may change their views).

All that being said, while Rand Paul does have some ideas that could help the USA, the reality is that the type of moral leadership he seems to advocate the way he does is insufficient to turn around the punishments that are beginning to strike the USA.

None of the expected candidates for USA president will turn the nation back to God, thus none will truly fix the problems in the USA.  It will take the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God to do that.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2015 at 6:10 am and is filed under Prophecy.

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