THE PAULIST SON

5/19/10

In what will come as a surprise to absolutely none of my loyal readers, I am delighted by the nomination of Rand Paul by the Republican Party in Kentucky to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Bunning. My joy at this development is three-fold.

First, Dr. Paul’s victory in the primary is yet another manifestation of the citizenry’s utter disgust with what has become a governing class. I have described typical members of that aforementioned class (quoting from my 5/14/10 post MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON?, but expressing a sentiment by no means foreign to the general tone of the Pontificator when it touches on politics) as

“…snot-nosed youngsters with thoroughly unjustified messiah complexes who, upon graduating from law school, went to work on the staff of a Congressperson until something opened up in the state legislature where they preened and posed for the cameras until something opened up in Congress where they spent the rest of their lives, all the while, if they were GOPers, singing fulsome praise for the private sector they worked so hard to avoid.”

The voters, or at least those whose brains have not been sufficiently numbed by the treacly discharge of modern American “culture,” are simply sick and tired of having so many elements of their lives run by people who are completely out of touch with reality, nabobs surrounded by legions of sycophantic yes-men, who seek only greater levels of self-aggrandizement financed by an ever growing portion of the fruits of the labor of those who actually produce, or do, something for a living. The Tea Party Movement is only the latest manifestation of such disgust, and Rand Paul is only its latest, and so far most promising, herald.

Second, Dr. Paul’s victory over Trey Greyson, Kentucky secretary of state and toady of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was a complete repudiation, by GOP voters mind you, of what Mr. McConnell and his ilk so thoroughly personify: the Big Business Uber Alles, Give War (any war, anywhere, against anyone) a Chance, Big Government for White People philosophy of the Bushite GOP establishment. One can only hope that this is the beginning of the end for the Republican Party as we know it, which gave up its birthright by its slavish devotion to George W. Bush and his disastrous excuse for a presidency.

Third, Dr. Paul’s ideas, while decried by Mr. Greyson and his puppetmasters as “strange,” reflect mine almost to tee. If one genuinely believes in small government, one should, one would suppose, be consistent and not use one’s stated devotion to small government principles only as a fig leaf for opposing only those manifestations of big government that don’t further one’s interests. Dr. Paul espouses such a consistent approach, the types of principles the Republican Party treats like the Athenians treated St. Paul (Acts, 17) and his strange ideas. While the GOPers feign interest in Dr. Paul’s ideas, they express a desire to “hear of these matters some other time,” while they go about their usual business of starting wars on flimsy pretenses and directing the growth of government in the direction of those who finance their exercises in self-adoration.

Further, as much as I am a fan of Dr. Rand Paul’s father, Dr. Ron Paul, and would certainly vote for him if he runs for president again, as I have consistently in the past, the elder Dr. Paul has been in public office far too long for my tastes. Any real believer in the principles Dr. Paul espouses would have retired, stayed retired, and returned to his medical practice, years ago. In fact, if the term limits espoused by Rand Paul were to go into effect, Ron Paul would be forced to do such a Cincinnatus imitation years ago. Besides, while Ron Paul is getting up there in years (74), Rand Paul is young (47), wrapping his father’s brains and understanding in a photogenic family and a bright political future. Rand’s only drawback, sadly, is his father’s tendency to make speeches that actually make sense, contain substance, and provide some value for the listener, the type of speeches that deep thinkers (like readers of, say, the Insightful Pontificator), whether or not they agree with the principles espoused therein, would like to become more prevalent on the American political scene. Unfortunately, the other 97% of the American people prefer high pitched, endless repetition of simplistic and trite talking points and such banalities as American Idol, Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh. This could put a brake on Dr. Paul’s political future. But, for now, I, for one, will rejoice in Dr. Paul’s nomination, support his election, but remain wary, even in Rand Paul’s case, of the seemingly natural tendency of office seekers and office holders to go native, to drink the kool-aid, and become part of the problem they initially sought to solve.