Rand Paul

Rand Paul (2015)

Randal Howard "Rand" Paul (born January 7, 1963 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ) is an American doctor and politician of the Republican Party . He has been a Senator for Kentucky in the United States Senate since January 2011 .

Career

Rand Paul was born in 1963, the third of five children to libertarian congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul and his wife. The libertarian and objectivist writer Ayn Rand , an acquaintance of the father, did not serve as namesake , according to Paul . He grew up in Lake Jackson , Texas . Paul attended Baylor University and, until 1988, the medical school of Duke University , where his father had also graduated from medical school. From 1988 to 1993 he trained as an ophthalmologist at the Duke University Medical Center's Eye Clinic . After serving as an intern, he moved his family to Bowling Green , Kentucky , in 1993 . He still practices there in his own practice with three employees. He has been married to his wife Kelley since 1991 and has three sons.

In 1993 Paul founded Kentucky Taxpayers United , an organization dedicated to educating voters about Kentucky politicians' attitudes towards tax and spending . She advocates tax cuts and tries to persuade politicians to adopt economical budgetary policies. Paul appeared more and more at events organized by organizations of the tea party movement . He shares their principle of “ small government ”, that is, the goal of clearly reducing the tasks and expenditures of the state to nothing more than guaranteeing internal, external and legal security .

Rand Paul speaking to tea party supporters in 2009

In 2009, the previous federal senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning , decided not to run again in the 2010 election to the United States Senate due to insufficient donations . Rand Paul then announced that he would run for this Senate seat, which he will then, thanks to the support of the Tea Party movement won the November 2, 2010 election with 56% of the vote in front of its Democratic rival Jack Conway , Kentucky Attorney General . The Washington Post gave him the best chance for a Republican presidential nomination in February 2014.

On April 7, 2015, Paul announced that he would run for the Republican candidacy for the 2016 presidential election . In the months before, there had been speculation in the US media about the Senator's appointment. To make this possible, and at the same time to keep open, in the concurrent election to the US Senate in 2016 to defend his position, Paul changed the pre-election process of the Republicans in Kentucky for the US Senate by a $ 250,000 comprehensive donation to a caucus without which it would not have been possible for him to run in both elections. After Paul had long been considered one of the favorites, his polling numbers in the primary area fell significantly into the low single-digit percentage range in the course of the summer of 2015, so that inner-party criticism of Paul arose with the demand that he should concentrate on the Senate election in order not to enter a local pre-election challenge or a strong opposing candidate to endanger this seat. In the November 2015 election for the highest offices in the state of Kentucky, however, the Democrats there lost on a broad front, including the previous State Auditor Mark Edelen, who had previously been considered the strongest possible opponent of Paul in the Senate election, after his defeat excluded and certified Paul the best chances for re-election. After receiving 4.5% of the vote at the Iowa Caucus, he dropped his candidacy on February 3, 2016. Since he was confirmed in his office as US Senator in November 2016, he will also represent his state in the US Senate for the next six years. His new term runs until January 3, 2023.

Political positions

Paul shares many, if not all, of the tea party movement's positions and is known for his libertarian views. According to the New York Times , he belongs to paleolibertarianism . He advocates strict restrictions on the tasks of the state, and in particular of the US federal government (“small government”, lean state ) and advocates tax cuts and spending restrictions . In this context, Paul also supports the "Read the Bills Act", which aims to ensure that politicians in Washington deal more intensively with the legal texts by giving them one day to read for every 20 pages of legal text. In an interview with Glenn Beck he pointed out the need to win voters from both party camps ( Democrats and Republicans ) to the ideas of freedom. In Congress, Paul is a member of the Tea Party Caucus , a network of populist republicans affiliated with the Tea Party.

However, Paul is one of the Republican senators most critical of Trump. He only voted with Trump 69% of the votes in the Senate, with the exception of Susan M. Collins (66.9%), all Republican senators voted with Trump more often than Paul. He is also the Senate Republican with 21.4%, who has deviated from the party line the most in his career.

Domestic politics

Rand Paul with his father Ron and son Will at a 2010 election rally

In contrast to most of the tea party movement, Rand Paul advocates making it possible for illegal immigrants to be naturalized. In the USA, according to the current legal situation, it is not possible for people who have entered the country illegally to acquire US citizenship .

Paul thinks the penalties for trafficking and using illegal drugs are too severe and advocates the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.

Paul is also committed to restoring civil rights, especially the right to vote, to former offenders who have not been convicted of violent crimes, and is also working with members of the Democratic Party who are willing to cooperate, such as Harry Reid and Cory Booker .

Paul opposes the "militarization" of local police authorities in the USA, which is being promoted by the US federal government in particular as part of the 1033 program .

Paul is very skeptical about the death penalty , but believes that each US state must decide whether the death penalty should still be used.

Rand Paul on March 6, 2013 during his filibuster speech in the Senate.

In protest against the appointment of John O. Brennan as director of the CIA, Paul gave a 13-hour filibuster speech in the Senate on March 6, 2013 . As Obama's security advisor, Brennan had been largely responsible for the drone war. Paul particularly objected to American citizens being allowed to be killed by drone strikes, and feared that this could even happen on American soil. The Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said in this context that he was a great admirer of Rand Paul.

Immediately after his election victory in May 2010, Paul came under fire. In interviews, he stated that while he fully supported nine out of ten parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that made discrimination based on race, gender, religion or nationality illegal, he considered the part that bans this discrimination against private companies incompatible with the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution. Paul later issued a statement not to support any effort to repeal the Civil Rights Act.

Rand Paul, along with the organization FreedomWorks and 386,000 supporters , sued the US federal government because of the NSA's phone data collection, which has been taking place since 2006 . He stated that he was not fundamentally against the NSA or against the collection of telephone data, but that these should be approved by an ordinary , publicly negotiating court instead of the previously competent secret special court .

Foreign policy

Rand Paul, like his father, is considered an "anti-interventionist". He criticized the invasion of Iraq, spoke out against military intervention in Libya and was a major player in the rejection of US intervention in the civil war in Syria .

Paul takes the constitutional position that the president needs the approval of Congress for any military operation.

Paul said in the 2010 election campaign that the US should withdraw from the United Nations .

Paul criticized Barack Obama's military aid to Egypt and accused him of "disregarding law and order". The money "should rather be spent on infrastructure projects in the USA".

When Rand Paul obstructed Montenegro's accession to NATO in a Senate vote in 2017 , John McCain accused him of using it to work for Putin.

Web links

Commons : Rand Paul  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Web presence at the United States Congress
• Rand Paul in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Campaign page for the 2016 presidential election
• Paul's re-election to Ballotpedia in 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mark Leibovich: For Paul Family, Libertarian Ethos Began at Home. In: New York Times . June 5, 2010, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
2. ↑ About Rand Paul. In: campaign website randpaul2010.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010 ; accessed on February 13, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Chris Cillizza: How Rand Paul is winning. In: The Washington Post . February 28, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
4. ^ The next applicant for the White House ( memento of April 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Tagesschau, April 7, 2015.
5. ↑ David Weigel: Ky. GOP Rule Change Allows Paul to Run for Senate amid His White House Bid. In: The Washington Post , August 22, 2015.
6. ↑ Sam Youngman: Death Watch Under Way for Rand Paul's 2016 Campaign. In: Lexington Herald Leader , September 25, 2015.
7. ↑ Joe Sonka: State Auditor Adam Edelen Shares Thoughts on His Election Loss, the Democratic Party's Decline, and How to Move Forward. In: Insider Louisville , November 5, 2015.
8. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/03/rand-paul-suspends-presidential-campaign/?hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news- bar
9. ^ Ross Douthat: The Principles of Rand Paul. In: New York Times . Retrieved February 13, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Frank Schäffler: Rand Paul: The renewal of America. April 13, 2015, accessed April 13, 2015 . 
11. ↑ Erica Ritz: Rand Paul's Prediction About Future Presidential Elections May Frighten Half the Country. In: TheBlaze . February 13, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
12. ^ Senate Tea Party Caucus Holds First Meeting - The New York Times. In: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved July 19, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Aaron Bycoffe: Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump. January 30, 2017, accessed May 27, 2020 . 
14. ^ Derek Willis: Current Members of the Senate. Retrieved May 27, 2020 (English). 
15. ↑ Rand Paul Endorses Pathway to Citizenship. In: Fox News . Archived from the original on October 17, 2014 ; accessed on February 13, 2015 . 
16. ^ Rand Paul on Drugs. Retrieved February 13, 2015 . 
17. ^ Rand Paul on Crime. Retrieved February 13, 2015 . 
18. ↑ Sen. Rand Paul: Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize the Police. In: TIME . August 14, 2014, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
19. ↑ James Hohmann: In Iowa, Rand Paul sticks with death penalty skepticism. The Washington Post, May 28, 2015, accessed July 26, 2015 . 
20. ↑ 13-hour speech in the US Senate: "I will speak until I can no longer". In: Der Spiegel . March 7, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
21. ↑ Nick Wing: Julian Assange: I'm A 'Big Admirer' Of Ron Paul, Rand Paul. In: Huffington Post . August 16, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
22. ^ Adam Nagourney: Paul's Views on Civil Rights Cause a Stir. Retrieved February 17, 2014 . 
23. ↑ US Senator suing Obama administration. In: tagesschau.de . Archived from the original on February 13, 2014 ; accessed on February 13, 2015 . 
24. ↑ Ansgar Graw : Approval for Obama: Influential Republicans want to attack Assad. In: The world . September 3, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
25. ^ Rand Paul On The Issues. Rand Paul, accessed May 17, 2010 . 
26. ↑ Felicia Sonmez: Rand Paul opposes US military involvement in Libya. In: Washington Post . March 17, 2011, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
27. ↑ Jonathan Mann : Radical liberal rejects attack: Syria dispute moves Rand Paul into the middle. In: n-tv . September 6, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
28. ^ Foreign Policy and National Defense. In: paul.senate.gov. Retrieved February 13, 2015 . 
29. ^ Rand Paul On Foreign Policy. Retrieved May 17, 2010 . 
30. ^ Matthias Rüb: Egypt: Visit Command from Washington. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . August 1, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015 . 
31. ↑ https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/mccain-rand-paul-is-now-working-for-vladimir-putin-236106