Will Ron Paul Supporters Ever Side With Rand Paul?

Ron Paul is the greatest statesman of our time — a real American hero when the days of heroism are long past.

I want to like his son Rand.

Rand Paul’s election to the Senate by the state of Kentucky in 2010 created a lot of hope that he would do great things for the country. He was no Empire Strikes Back — i.e., better than his dad — but I thought he had tremendous potential. I hoped he would pick up where Ron Paul would soon leave off — fighting against interventionism in other countries, taxing-and-spending, invasions of privacy, and other real dangers we’re facing today.

In some ways, he’s done really well. For instance, he’s circulating a petition to introduce term limits in Congress — the Holy Grail of grassroots efforts to reform Washington. Rand Paul re-filed legislation to reintroduce his father’s Audit the Fed bill, which passed the House with strong bipartisan support last year. He’s been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and started the unpopular but very necessary conversation about cutting foreign aid.

But being the son of a great man does not make you a great man.

Rand Paul has already done things that set off alarm bells, such as endorsing Mitt Romney — a run-of-the-mill politician — while his dad was still running for the presidency!

Sure, Ron Paul was planning to announce he would drop out of the race, but it was — and should only be called — blatantly disloyal. His motive was obvious when he said that “it would be an honor” to be considered for the vice presidential spot on Romney’s ticket.

But Romney gave the nod to Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), and then Obama was reelected anyway. So Rand Paul just looked like a jerk.

Another red flag is his political action committee (Rand-PAC). PACs are always unethical.

I had an epiphany about it when I watched the YouTube video of Senator Paul questioning Hillary Clinton about Benghazi. He made some good points, but they were overshadowed by how pompous he sounded.

Clinton gave some reasonable answers, but they weren’t convincing because of the contempt with which she responded.

That’s when it crystallized: Rand Paul and Hillary Clinton are very similar in that they are both very smart, unlikeable people who are not above unethical actions if they think it will get them what they want. Hillary Clinton has had a long career and Rand Paul’s a novice, but I think this will prove to be true. Especially because Paul is just as ambitious as Clinton. There’s already noise about both of them running for president in 2016.

Rand Paul has made a strong start with legislation to Audit the Fed and institute term limits, and he could turn out to be a great senator.

I continue to watch with interest.