Seven years ago, Rand Paul was just his father’s son running for Senate in Kentucky. He succeeded in his primary and general election campaigns based on being his father’s son. He had the same last name, he had the same libertarian-populist brand of politics, and he had the same backbone that his father, nicknamed “Dr. No” in Congress for his unwillingness to support unconstitutional legislation, had demonstrated for decades in Washington, D.C.
Unfortunately, for many years now that Rand Paul has been in hiding. The only Rand Paul we have seen for the last half decade was the one who posed as a quasi-conservative, multiculturalist with libertarian leanings. Thankfully, that Rand Paul never stood a chance once the 2016 Republican primaries got underway. It doesn’t hurt that Rand Paul — in either form — has no real stomach for politics and is not particularly sociable.
However, this week good ol’ 2010 Rand Paul showed up to demand a full repeal of Obamacare. He went searching for the Obamacare replacement bill that the GOP leadership is preparing and was literally blocked by a congressional staffer from seeing it.
I am heading to the secure location where they are keeping the House obamacare bill. I will demand a copy for the American people.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 2, 2017
Sen. Rand Paul demands a copy of the bill. This staffer says she can't give him one. pic.twitter.com/gPo5rMsUkS
— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) March 2, 2017
He is bucking the Republican establishment’s gatekeepers Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (Kentucky’s other senator) and Speaker of the House (and cuck extraordinaire) Rep. Paul Ryan. The only other times that we’ve seen this Rand Paul were when he filibustered former CIA Director John Brennan’s confirmation for 13 hours in 2013 to protest the Obama Administration’s use of drones, and when he filibustered renewal of the PATRIOT Act for 11 hours in 2015.
The reason why this Rand Paul is useful is that he is physically strong enough to endure an hours- or days-long political fight, he is intellectually convicted enough to articulate his view without remorse, and he is socially awkward enough to not really care if the “cool kids” in the media and Capitol Hill disapprove of his actions — at least to a point.
Middle-class white Americans have suffered from Obamacare disproportionately by being forced out of healthcare plans that were beneficial, and affordable, to their families. They have also been hammered by the ironically-titled Affordable Care Act in seeing their tax dollars fund healthcare for disproportionately nonwhite, and even illegal, residents.
Of significant note, Rand unveiled his own Obamacare replacement bill in January.
Paul’s plan includes a tax credit of up to $5,000 per person to use as part of a Health Savings Account to pay for medical care. That tax credit appears to be larger than those offered in other Republican healthcare plans.
The plan would abolish many of the central elements of ObamaCare, including the mandate that everyone has coverage. It would eliminate the minimum standards for which health services an insurance plan must cover, which Republicans argue would allow for cheaper, less comprehensive plans.
Full speed ahead, Rand! Take down the system that has socialized 13 percent of America’s economy and made individual citizens yet again vassals to the State.
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