By: Dale Weckbacher
Proverbs 29:2
2 When the godly are
in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.
NLT
I know very few people that are rejoicing about the
leadership currently leading our nation.
In fact many are groaning over losing their jobs and being unable to
find one or worse yet having to settle for a part time job paying a fraction of
what they previously made. Many,
especially the youth, who voted for President Obama, are unable to find a good
paying job and then are now required to spend money for health insurance they
cannot afford.
This groaning and lack of rejoicing is exactly why I decided
to write about the current lack of quality leadership in our nation. In this posting we will begin assessing some
of the potential leaders in our country and see how they stack up against our
metric of courage, vision, integrity, and a servants heart. We will begin by assessing Senator Rand Paul
(R-KY).
Rand Paul is currently serving in the U.S. Senate as
Kentucky’s junior senator. His first
involvement in politics occurred when he founded Kentucky Taxpayers United, a
watchdog group that tracked taxation and spending in Kentucky. The organization disbanded in 2000. (1)
His next entry into politics came when he sought the Republican Nomination for
President in 2008. Even though he was
unsuccessful in his bid for the GOP nomination, he attracted a passionate
following in Kentucky that enabled him to win election to the Senate as part of
the Tea Party wave in 2010. (1)
After graduation from Duke University Medical School in
1988, Paul began his general surgery internship at the Georgia Baptist Medical
Center in Atlanta Georgia. It was there
that Paul met his future wife Kelley Ashby.
The couple married in 1991 and after finishing his internship, the Paul
family moved to Bowling Green Kentucky where Paul started his medical
practice. (1)
On the issues, Senator Paul leans conservative and
libertarian. For example, he does not
believe in the promotion of Marijuana but also does not favor the jailing of
non-violent drug offenders. He supports
school choice and homeschooling. He does
not support federalizing same sex marriage and believes it should be up to the
states to decide the definition of marriage within their states. (2)
On energy, Senator Paul does not believe the unelected EPA
should regulate greenhouse emissions.
Even though Paul supports renewable energy tax credits, he also believes
we should explore our nations proven energy reserves in order to keep energy
affordable. Senator Paul also believes
the government needs to exercise fiscal responsibility by balancing the budget
and supports the penny plan. (2) However, my research did not indicate if he
favors tax cuts.
Senator Paul is pro-Israel, pro-Constitution, and
anti-terror. He is pro-second amendment
and as a physician knows, and is familiar with, Obamacare from a doctor’s
perspective. (2) Perhaps the only issue where Paul strays from
the views of many in the Tea Party involves his stance on military spending.
In a meeting with former Vice President Cheney and a group
of Republican senators in 2012, Senator Paul was seen exiting the meeting. Reporters asked him what had occurred in the
meeting to which Paul stated it was a private meeting. Later, however, Senator Paul did make the
following comment, “Most people in our conference are on the side [that thinks]
that they need to do anything now to avoid the military sequester. I think there is a little bit of irony in
that most of them voted for the military sequester. I didn’t vote for it. They all voted to raise the debt ceiling with
a military sequester, and now they’re all basically caterwauling about it.” (3)
Although some may interpret this statement to mean that Paul
does not favor a strong military, I believe he was simply pointing out the
hypocrisy of some of his colleagues who voted for sequester and then object to
the defense spending cuts in the sequester.
What Senator Paul does favor is increased efficiency across all of the
government, including the military. (3) However, even though technological advances
may make it possible for the military to defend the country with fewer people,
we must be careful not to become overly dependent on technology for our defense
and must insure we are prepared to act swiftly should our nation come under
attack as we did on 911?
Senator Paul demonstrated courage when he stood for 13 hours
to filibuster the nomination for CIA chief John Brennan. At issue was Brennen’s support of policies
that included the killing of U.S. Citizens on U.S. soil using drones. Spoken filibusters are rare and Rand Paul’s
spoken filibuster was the first one in the Senate since 2010. (4)
The great courage involved was that many in the Senate, both Democrats and
Republicans, fear standing up in opposition to President Obama’s appointees out
of fear of being considered racist. Rand
Paul demonstrated his desire to preserve the constitutional rights of U.S.
citizens on U.S. soil, even if at the political risk of being considered a
racist by liberals and moderates in the Senate.
Senator Paul’s vision for the nation involves restoring the
constitutional principles upon which our nation was founded. This involves a smaller fiscally responsible
government that serves citizens and not the other way around. His vision is a government that preserves and
protects the rights of citizens instead of passing laws like Obamacare which
removes health care choices by cutting hundreds of health insurance choices
down to four (2)
and numerous regulations that among other things have banned certain
incandescent light bulbs.
As a demonstration of his integrity, Rand Paul has sponsored
pieces of legislation that are consistent with his vision for the country such
as,
2)
S.201 :
A bill to prohibit the sale, lease, transfer, retransfer, or delivery of F-16
aircraft, M1 tanks, or certain other defense articles or services to the
Government of Egypt.
3)
S.530 :
A bill to make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary, except
with respect to certain basic questions, and for other purposes.
4)
S.583 :
A bill to implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the
Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.
Senator Paul has also demonstrated a servant’s heart for as
a longtime member of the service organization Lions Club International, Rand
Paul founded the Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic. This clinic offered free eye care to patients
in need. He also performed free eye surgeries
for impoverished children in developing countries through the Children of the
Americas program. (1)
There is little doubt that Senator Paul demonstrates the
leadership qualities of courage, vision, integrity, and a servant’s heart. However, as we look at other potential
leaders we will undoubtedly see that they too demonstrate these qualities. We therefore must look at these other leaders
and select the man or woman that we believe will be best able to lead our
nation out of its current crisis and rally our support behind that person.
Next Saturday we will look at the leadership qualities of Senator
Ted Cruz (R-TX).
1. Biography.com. Rand Paul Biography. www.biography.com.
[Online] [Cited: March 21, 2014.]
http://www.biography.com/people/rand-paul-588472.
2. On the Issues.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul on the Issues. www.ontheissues.org. [Online]
[Cited: March 21, 2014.] http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm.
3. Weigel, David.
“Jettison Some of the Crap”. www.slate.com. [Online] Slate, July 23,
2012. [Cited: March 21, 2014.] http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/07/rand_paul_on_defense_spending_the_senator_does_not_believe_that_republicans_or_democrats_are_serious_about_cutting_.html.
4. Blake, Ed O'Keefe
and Aaron. Paul’s filibuster in opposition to Brennan, drone policy ends
after nearly 13 hours. www.washingtonpost.com. [Online] The Washington
Post, March 6, 2013. [Cited: March 21, 2014.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rand-paul-conducts-filibuster-in-opposition-to-john-brennan-obamas-drone-policy/2013/03/06/1367b1b4-868c-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html.
5. Rand Paul United
States Senator. Sponsored Legislation. www.paul.senate.gov. [Online]
[Cited: March 21, 2014.] http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=sponsored_legislation.
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