Rand Paul - The Tea Party Goes to Washington

Copyright 2011 by Rand Paul

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First eBook Edition: February 2011

ISBN: 978-1-455-50286-8

US Senator Rand Paul lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky with his wife and three sons. Dr. Paul has been a practicing opthamologist for 17 years. His run for the US Senate representing Kentucky was his first bid for political office. He is the son of Ron Paul, Texas congressman and 2008 Republican Presidential candidate.

For Kelley Ashby Paul:

What are the important things? Scratch my head silence enough to hear my watch tick. Time, have I time to even consider the important things? Even when I sit still I sit still in a hurry

Malamud

Beyond, between and above all else you, the girl, my wife, my love, can and do complete all syllogisms my circular brain can create. For me, you are the important things.

I would first and foremost like to thank my wife, Kelley, without whom the campaign, my victory, and this book would not have been possible. The same goes for my three sons, William, Duncan, and Robert, who continue to make me proud each day. A special thanks to Mom, Dad, and my entire family, whose love and support has been immeasurable.

I would also like to thank Doug Stafford and Jesse Benton for the great campaign victory that makes this book possible; Rolf Zettersten, Kate Hartson, Bob Castillo, and the team at Center Street Books for working day and night to produce the book in a timely fashion; Jack Hunter for his indispensable writing talent; John Tate and Campaign for Liberty, Jeff Frazee and Young Americans for Liberty, and the grassroots Tea Party movement across Kentucky and across America that care so much about the future of our great Republic.

There are so many people Id like to thank that theres no way I could list them all here. The fight for constitutional government will be a long but worthy battle, something I was reminded of so many times throughout the campaign by so many people. For your encouragement and support, I am eternally grateful.

I have a message from the Tea Party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words. Weve come to take our government back.

Speaking these words after winning Kentuckys Republican primary in spring 2010, I understood that my victory was part of a much larger movement. Voters outraged by massive debt, spending and an out-of-control federal government had elected a candidate the media and political establishment had deemed too unconventionalprecisely because they desired a more unconventional politics. The status quo had failed. Big government had failed. On that warm May evening, Kentucky voters sent a message loud and clear: Weve had enough.

So have most Americans. Facing a $13 trillion national debt, bankrupt entitlement programs and in the midst of two long and expensive wars, our federal government is busy bailing out private industry to the tune of billions of dollars, trying to stimulate the economy with billions more and implementing an estimated $1 trillion national healthcare program. At precisely the moment we should be cutting spending, our government just keeps cutting checks, using money that wouldnt even exist if not printed out of thin air, borrowed from China or born of endless and astronomical debt. Said President Obama during his victory speech in 2008: Let us ask ourselvesif our children should live to see the next century what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. And answer it Obama haswith the most rapid government growth in American history, outpacing that of every president before him combined. Obama and his party continue to ask what our government should be doing for our children but never seem to comprehend what its doing to them, saddling future generations with unfathomable debt that truly is nothing less than generational theft. Liberals keep desiring newer New Deals and greater Great Societies, while so many Americans-at-large are increasingly clamoring for something much simpler and sanea return to the United States Constitution.

And that clamor has become deafening. Many Republicans have grown tired of establishment GOP politicians whose actions dont match their conservative rhetoric. Many Democrats who once embraced Obama are now shocked at the size and scope of his liberal agenda. Weary of both parties, independents now represent a sizeable and growing part of the electorate, and a significant percentage of Tea Party membership. In fact, some polls even have the Tea Party ranking equal or above both major parties. As many establishment GOP politicians have had to learn the hard way, the Tea Party sees no distinction between big government Republicans and big government Democrats, drawing a new dividing line between those who want to limit government and those who want it to be unlimited. As government explodes at a rate unprecedented in our history, the Tea Partys critics continue to portray the movement as too radical. If the Constitution and common sense still have any bearing, the Tea Party isnt the least bit radicalthe federal government is.

From the Founding Fathers to Barry Goldwater to my father, Ron Paul, conservatives today have always pointed out that the primary purpose of government is to protect our liberties. Government is not supposed to coddle us or take care of our every need, one generation to the next, cradle to grave. To the extent that we have allowed this to happenthrough welfare, entitlements, the nanny statewe must give Americans whats been promised to them, but also be honest about what many, particularly younger Americans, now consider empty promises. Unquestionably, we must be practical and humane in returning to a more limited, constitutional government, but make no mistakereturn we must. We cant afford not to.

These seemingly old-fashioned and constitutionally conservative notions are what first compelled me to enter the political arena as I now watch my sons grow up in an America in which each successive generation continues to make larger demands on them. What both parties have saddled this country with over the decades is unfathomable. That Obama and his party have now been able to outdo and outspend even their predecessors in such a short period of time is unforgivable. Luckily, the Tea Party has been unforgiving and justifiably so, and what I told that Kentucky audience after my primary victory last spring is even truer today: I think we stand on a precipice. We are encountering a day of reckoning.