Galt's Gulch
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I’m Rand Paul and I’m running for President of the United States of America. Ask me anything!

Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago to Politics
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I'm Dr. Rand Paul, devoted husband and father, senator from Kentucky, and 2016 United States presidential candidate.

I am running for president to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government. I am an advocate of a balanced budget amendment, term limits, and privacy reform. I’m proud to be here in Galt’s Gulch with you today and will be back at 4PM ET to provide answers to your questions.

Ask me anything.

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EDIT 3: Radio Interrupted post-show with the Atlas Society: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

EDIT 2: A full summary of questions and answers by Dr. Paul can be found here: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

EDIT 1: 09.22.15 4:50PM ET: The Senator had to cut it short to keep a date with Wolf Blitzer (CNN). Check out his farewell comment here: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

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PROOF: https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/6...

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FROM SCOTT: Dr. Paul will be here at 4PM ET. Post your questions here now as comments below. IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE QUESTIONS, PLEASE POST THEM AS INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS. Try and keep the questions brief so the senator can get through as many as possible. Also, make sure to vote on the questions (and this post) as the best will rise to the the top of the list.

At 4PM ET, refresh this page with your browser to see the Rand’s replies as they come in.

Also, make sure to join us at 4:30PM today for a special edition of GULCH LIVE: RADIO INTERRUPTED ( http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/g/the... ) for exclusive live commentary from the Atlas Society's David Kelly, Aaron Day, Will Thomas, and Ed Hudgins.

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DONATE TO RAND’S CAMPAIGN: https://secure.randpaul.com/

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DONATE TO FREEDOMWORKS: https://donate.freedomworks.org/contr...
DONATE TO THE ATLAS SOCIETY: http://atlassociety.org/donate

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NOT YET A GULCH PRODUCER?
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  • 15
    Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
    I thank all of you for these great questions! I enjoyed this and would be interested in doing it again in the near future.

    Visit my website to learn more about upcoming appearances, and tonight I will join Wolf Blitzer on CNN at 6:15pm ET Tune in! And thanks again!

    In liberty,

    RP
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  • 12
    Posted by richrobinson 9 years, 2 months ago
    Hi Dr. Paul.
    How willing are you to use Executive Orders to accomplish you're campaign promises and has the President over stepped his authority with his use of Executive Orders?
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    • 18
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      I will use Executive Orders to reverse so much of what this President has used them to enact. I am the only one running in this race who wants to return more power to the states and not accumulate more for the presidency.
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  • 12
    Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul,

    I know you support the REINS Act, however in my opinion it is not strong enough. I have proposed a Regulatory Bill of Rights (RBoR) that gives citizens the power (standing) to challenge agencies and regulations in court. The RBoB allows private citizens to challenge regulations based on them being ineffective or much less efficient at accomplishing the stated goal and holds any contradictory regulations/rulings (between agencies or within an agency) automatically void until the contradiction is fixed. How could anyone be against the idea that regulations should be effective and efficient? I am an attorney and as you probably know the Bill of Rights basically does not apply to regulatory actions. The RBoB like much of our environmental laws allows private citizens who win in court to receive compensation.

    Could you have someone on your staff look at my proposed Regulatory Bill of Rights? http://hallingblog.com/2010/12/02/reg...

    BTW your book Government Bullies forms the backdrop for our third novel in the Hank Rangar serise, which we (my wife and I) are presently writing.
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  • 12
    Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul. At the CNN debate, you were the only one to mention the Constitution. In your opinion, can our stolen Constitutional rights ever be restored? If yes, how.
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    • 19
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      We can have freedom and security and the Bill of Rights and the Constitution all at the same time. We have set up a privileged class in Washington and Americans are sick and tired of it. These elites say, "Trust us, we won't violate your privacy.”

      The Constitution is clear. Politicians should not collect this information without a warrant. Warrants must be specific to the individual and there must be probable cause before a government is allowed to search any American's documents.

      Warrantless searches of American’s phone and computer records are un-American and a threat to our civil liberties. I say, that your phone records are yours. I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens -- are none of their damn business! As President--on day one--I will immediately end this unconstitutional surveillance!
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  • 11
    Posted by $ CBJ 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul: Republicans are constantly accused of promoting “tax cuts for the rich.” As an interim measure, would you support a “tax cut for the poor” that exempts the first $15,000 of income from all income taxes and payroll taxes? This would remove most minimum wage workers from the federal tax system and should be politically popular. No Democrats are pushing such a plan as far as I know. I calculate that the annual “cost” to federal revenue would be $250 billion or less – around one-third the cost of the financial system bailout of 2008. Even without corresponding spending cuts, such a tax cut would likely produce a net gain for the economy, increasing both consumer spending and investment.
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    • Posted by randpaulmemes 9 years, 2 months ago
      "My tax plan would blow up the tax code and start over. In consultation with some of the top tax experts in the country, including the Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore, former presidential candidate Steve Forbes and Reagan economist Arthur Laffer, I devised a 21st-century tax code that would establish a 14.5% flat-rate tax applied equally to all personal income, including wages, salaries, dividends, capital gains, rents and interest. All deductions except for a mortgage and charities would be eliminated. The first $50,000 of income for a family of four would not be taxed. For low-income working families, the plan would retain the earned-income tax credit."

      https://www.randpaul.com/issue/taxes
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      • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 2 months ago
        So a family of 4 that earns up to 50,000 / yr does not have to pay for any of the social services and benefits that it consumes from the society, like roads, courts, police, military, etc.
        Likewise, charity is exempted from taxation - why? If someone wants to donate - by all means, as long as he's donating his own money. By exempting the charity from taxation, that tax burden is transfered onto someone else. Perhaps I do not wish to donate to your charity?
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  • 11
    Posted by DavidKelley 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul, in regard to entitlement reform, do you believe people have a right to welfare, Medicaid, and other government benefits?
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      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      Wasteful spending in Washington has drained the Medicare trust funds. Obamacare has borrowed money from Medicare to cover its cost. Washington cannot continue to promise everything to everyone without a plan to pay for it.

      In the current system, there are two problems. Doctors are already dropping off the Medicare payment rolls. Seniors will be left with bigger bills and fewer options. I want to put some competition back in the system, and I want to make sure seniors can choose from the best health-care plans in the country.
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    • Posted by Wegg 9 years, 2 months ago
      I think Ron would answer that we can't cut people off that have become dependent on these welfare programs, but we can most certainly stop new people from falling into the cycle of becoming multi-generational welfare recipients.
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      • Posted by DavidKelley 9 years, 2 months ago
        I agree that we cannot cut off people immediately; reform has to be gradual and fair. But the underlying question is ethical: In principle, do people have a moral right to gov't benefits, which would imply that welfare is an intrinsic function of gov;t, like police and courts.
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  • 11
    Posted by theelephantsconscience 9 years, 2 months ago
    Over the course of the last two debates, the moderators have not asked you, or Dr. Carson for that matter, any substantial questions about health care. How would your experience as a surgeon help you reform healthcare and repeal Obamacare? Thank you and good luck.
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  • 11
    Posted by flfenn 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Rand - What are the barriers to real tax reform, ie. Fair Tax, and how do you plan to overcome those barriers to make it happen? My 'millennial' children and their peers are ready for a new way to do taxation, getting rid of millions of pages of documents, cryptic loopholes, and gratuitous ad-ins. Repeal the 16th Amendment!
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    • 15
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      Washington is run by lobbyists and special interests, and career politicians in both parties let it happen. My tax plan ends corporate welfare and all special tax breaks will be gone in exchange for one low, flat rate of 14.5 percent that every single business will pay—filled on a single page of a tax return, eliminating the over 70,000 pages of the current tax code.

      I want to free up the great engine of American prosperity by lowering taxes, only spending what we take in, and bringing American businesses back from overseas. I am convinced that my vision can become a reality if we end the trillion dollar government stimulus packages—packages which have made the rich richer and the poor poorer—and replace them with tax cuts for everybody, the rich, the poor, and those in the middle.
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      • Posted by flfenn 9 years, 2 months ago
        And before you ask, Georgia is a 'right to work' state', and "unions" are illegal for government workers. Georgia's teacher retirement is among the tops in the nation, which is why they will not lower the retirement threshold to 25 yrs like every other state surrounding us, attracting experienced teachers from other states who have already retired. Teacher retirement in Georgia only pays an average of half a salary for a 30 year input. I am saving money to supplement, and will consider any Social Security money as a bonus. I consider it a joke on my great-grand children, actually, but am not depending on it's output. I hope you become president, but you have been a most powerful voice in the Senate, too. Keep on keepin' on!
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      • Posted by flfenn 9 years, 2 months ago
        Thank you for your reply, Dr. Paul. I agree, 'special tax breaks' are only for the corporate rich. I am a school teacher on a fixed income, and my district only pays me monthly. I have no interest in 'tax breaks' per se, only that I pay my fair share, and not a penny more. Paying when I choose to spend my meager salary makes more sense to me than a 1040 form. I'm not hopeful that Social Security for retirement will even be there in 20 years, and if Congress keeps raising the bar, I might die before I reach it, which will make policy-wonks in Washington all the more happy, I am sure.
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        Posted by kristymartino 9 years, 2 months ago
        Senator, I've read that your tax plan does little to expand the EITC/CTC credits or any other benefits for lower-income workers. The bulk of your proposed tax cuts would instead benefit the wealthiest Americans. The EITC/CTC are putting money back into the local economy, and lifted roughly 10 million Americans out of poverty. Why not expand these credits so more hard working families can prosper??
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  • 10
    Posted by nomosolo 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul, thank you for hopping on here for a Q&A! I'm sure you've heard already, but Fox News put out a poll today that excludes your name but still includes Scott Walker who recently dropped out of the Race. What are your thoughts on this and have your staff reached out to Fox News representatives to address this issue? The same thing happened multiple times to your father during his campaigns (always an "accident" or "simple error" of course) and we don't want to see you bullied by the establishment like that.

    Thanks again, and have a donation! :)
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 2 months ago
    Senator Paul,
    Welcome to the gulch. I am a big supporter and respect your adherence to the Constitution. However, I have seen some troubling reports on your position regarding anthropogenic climate change. What is your position and what do you propose?
    Respectfully,
    O.A.
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    • 14
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      I do believe humans have some impact on the atmosphere, but it’s unclear how much. We shouldn’t destroy the economy over unknowns.

      I'm against pollution and think we should minimize pollution. In general, it’s time we have an energy approach that’s about reducing carbon in a cost effective manner, and not massive payouts to campaign donors. The last eight years of climate policy has been nothing more than a payout to liberal campaign donors.
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      • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 2 months ago
        Thank you, Senator.
        I believe everyone is against pollution, but when the EPA starts regulating CO2 as a pollutant, it is time to fire a few bureaucrats. If elected I hope you reign in these power hungry, over-regulating, un-elected agency personnel
        Respectfully,
        O.A..
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      • Posted by cjferraris 9 years, 2 months ago
        I agree with what you're saying about climate policy, however everything that humans try to "control" we end up screwing up. The Colorado river would flood and dry up, now, since we've built that series of dams that control the Colorado river, we seem to be in a drought that has lowered levels substantially.
        With all the talk of CO2 being the "cause" of global warming, why isn't there a tree planting plan in place??

        It seems that the adage that "A giraffe is a mouse made by the government." is true.
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    • Posted by skidance 9 years, 2 months ago
      Specifically, is AGW a scam, and if so, what will you do about it?
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      • Posted by skidance 9 years, 2 months ago
        Dr. Paul, I should have been more specific. Do you believe that CO2 drives climate? I believe this is a gross oversimplification of a complex, chaotic system with multiple variables. Are we being deceived to promote a statist agenda? Would you at least investigate the matter, if elected?
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  • Posted by DrEdwardHudgins 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul: It seems that by focusing on defunding Planned Parenthood (certainly a good idea), praising a Kentucky clerk who won't do her job over same-sex unions and such matters, you're obscuring the big picture: that 1) the welfare state, which punishes & guilt-trips achievers and creates envy-infused addicted to handouts, is in a death spiral, and that 2) our corrupt crony system--loathed my Tea Party & Occupy Wall St. alike--must be replaced with a honest, free-market system. Why can't you stick to this simple message?
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr Paul,
    It seems that both parties have become creatures of the same stripe in just different orders and colors. Do you feel we can have a viable 3rd party now and work using that illustration?
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  • Posted by Thompsonl10 9 years, 2 months ago
    Dr. Paul. I'm a libertarian living in the bible belt of Florida. At age 19 I was charged with felony Marijuana cultivation. I'm am now 26 years old and the effects of my arrest (loss of rights, inability to get a job, inability to find housing) has been wearing me down. If you were elected president, what steps would you take to restore the liberty that has been stolen from me and thousands of others?
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    • 15
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      There is something wrong with a system that releases hardened violent criminals to make room in prison for someone caught smoking marijuana. As President, I’d reform our criminal justice system so that the punishment fits the crime and we keep violent offenders behind bars.

      Since I was a freshman senator, I have introduced or co-sponsored more than two dozen bills designed to fix our broken criminal justice system. This problem will not be fixed overnight, just as it did not come into being overnight. It has been in the making for decades. The American people deserve a well-functioning criminal justice system, one they do not have to fear will take their assets and criminalize every bit of their conduct, but instead will do what it is supposed to do: protect them from violent criminals.

      What I am proposing is faithful to the Republican principles driving me to fight for this great country: protecting civil liberties, reducing the federal deficit, promoting strong families, undoing the opportunistic laws put into place by the Washington Machine, and ending big government intrusion into our private lives.
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    • Posted by lokblaze 9 years, 2 months ago
      That unfortunately is a state issue, not a federal one. The federal government cannot, or at least it should not be able to, mandate that states change their laws or make laws requiring others to accept you with your past.

      That being said, I do think all states need to start adopting laws and policies that allow for people to have their records expunged after say 10 or 15 years, no matter what the crime is, as long as they do not have any other convictions. It should not be held over their heads forever.

      Unfortunately you still have to suffer the negative consequences and figure out a way to over come them when you get in trouble with the law. It can be tough and it would be a good discussion on how to best help people reintegrate into society as many find it very difficult or near impossible.
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  • Posted by ZebulonCarlander 9 years, 2 months ago
    Senator Paul,

    What would you say are the biggest national security threats facing the United States and how would you as President respond to them?

    Thank you!

    Zebulon Carlander
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    • 13
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      There are many threats that we face: Russia; China; our national debt; Iran; North Korea; and terrorism, to name a few. The greater threat is that we are seeing the return of great power competition and the increasing potential for miscalculation. It has been over a century since the world faced such a multipolar power world. And it continues to get worse as smaller countries develop weapons of mass destruction.

      We spent the last decade trying to solve our security problems by reinventing governments in countries that have distinctly different cultures. We have failed in this. Despite the valiant effort and tactical and operational success of our military, these adventures have been at best strategically neutral and at worst losses.
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      • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 2 months ago
        A major contributor to our manufacturing troubles is the global economy/marketplace. How can we as a nation compete when a worker in Detroit is demanding payment of $25.00/hr to work an assembly line, when in other nations people are happy to work by hand for $25 a week or a month without sick days or holidays. It is simply not possible to think that what products we make can be priced competitively to make our products attractive in foreign markets.
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        • Posted by hattrup 9 years, 2 months ago
          You will not need to make $25/hr to buy a car made by someone paid $25 a month.
          And you can then go out and work on maintaining and fixing the huge numbers of vehicles on the road made for only $25/month.
          100% of the country gets to buy cheaper cars - reducing the cost of living / raising the standard of living.
          You make/export the items and services you have a comparative advantage in.
          With increasing automation and more efficient use of resources in making products - labor and material content are steadily becoming a smaller factor in product cost.

          I would be much more concerned about local, county, state, and federal regulations creating barriers to entry, and high cost of operations than I would with labor rates.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compara...
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          • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 2 months ago
            What are you talking about? I think you misunderstood what I wrote.

            In America, union autoworkers get $25/hr + benefits + sick time + vacation or more

            Outside America (not in America) - people make $25/week to $25/month to make cars.

            The manufacturing costs are so much lower that our vehicles are instantly too expensive to export to many countries. We lose manufacturing jobs as our product go overseas to be made.

            As for automation - they add to the unemployment lines. Unless you are a mechanic this doesn't create as many jobs as it takes.

            As for needing to make $25/hr to guy a car...thats not what this post was referring to.

            A global economy is not beneficial to US interests, it siphons jobs.
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            • Posted by term2 9 years, 2 months ago
              ACtually, the moving of manufacturing jobs to China has had some hidden consequences. First of all, the demand for people who managed the production workers went to China also. Secondly, automation slowed in the USA because it was cheaper to buy from China than to invest in automation here in the USA. Thirdly, the entitled american workers have refused to accept that global competition has reduced the value of their work, and therefore the wages they could command. The result has been unemployment here in the USA.
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            • Posted by hattrup 9 years, 2 months ago
              I think I understood - you seem to want protections so the USA can make overpriced vehicles - and presumably "forcing" US residents to buy those cars -instead of buying from the low cost producer (wherever they are).

              If automation added to unemployment lines, then we would now all be out of work since productivity is much higher now than it was in the past.

              There is no reason to artificially protect any industry in the US - nor in any one state, county, city, etc.

              Protectionism is a great way to create more criminals by making many more black markets look attractive - leading to more "crimes" like we see with the "War on Drugs".
              The consumers lose, and the lower income folks take the brunt of it with higher costs and loss of freedom/jail time.
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              • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 2 months ago
                No, obviously you didn't.

                My statement was that the global economy is hurting us..that is all. Anything else I was was to illustrate how.

                Unemployment does a hell of job creating criminals too (see Detroit)...look at all the McD's employees who are starting to lose their jobs to Kiosks.
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  • Posted by monstorbak 9 years, 2 months ago
    Will you be able to arrange public one-on-one debates with Bernie Sanders and/or Hillary? I've seen the Bernie Sanders petition, and I expect him to be the only democratic candidate with enough backbone to take you on. I believe that educating enough voters on liberty and free market capitalism is the only way to elect someone like you. Much of that requires destroying perceptions which can be accomplished in head-to-head debates.
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    • 14
      Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
      I’m open to debating either candidate and perhaps this is already in the works…stay tuned for that.
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      • Posted by vader543 9 years, 2 months ago
        My heart jumped reading this reply. I've been dying for a Rand/Sanders debate. I'm in your corner the whole way, but this is the debate America needs. Free Market Capitalism or Democratic Socialism and the two candidates willing to fight the hardest for both. I can't wait to hear the news
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        • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 2 months ago
          Just a side note - there is no such thing as "Democratic Socialism." Socialism, under any guise, is an authoritarian system.
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          • Posted by $ jdg 9 years, 2 months ago
            Who says a democratic system can't produce authoritarian rule? Many people want that, and many more are dupes.
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            • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 2 months ago
              Authoritarian is a rule by one or few; democratic is by the majority. Neither guarantees any protections for the ones on the bottom of the political power scale. That's why I've always found it entertaining when the US proclaimed to export democracy - which is a rule by the mob; precisely what we now have achieved with lots of blood and money!
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        • Posted by cdgooding 9 years, 2 months ago
          I agree. A Rand/Sanders debate would be great. There are a lot of fringe, but enthusiastic supporters of both. But I think that if the Sanders supporters would actually take the time to understand Rand's perspectives, I think they'd come to the Rand-side.
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    • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 2 months ago
      While I would love to see such a debate, there is an inherent disadvantage in that socialist slogans are easier and quicker to swallow, while the free-market view requires facts, understanding and intelligence which are difficult to dish out and make people absorb in the limited time available.
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      • Posted by Wegg 9 years, 2 months ago
        Bernie has set up a pretty tight straw man by pointing at our current system as "Capitalism". Deconstructing that idea would probably take longer than any debate format would allow. :-(
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      • Posted by monstorbak 9 years, 2 months ago
        I agree, which is why a full fledged debate needs to happen. It's easy to swallow the socialist tidbits of anti-capitalist rhetoric, but it's difficult to defend those statements in a public setting when presented with logical fact.
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  • Posted by Flootus5 9 years, 2 months ago
    Greetings; Senator Paul and welcome to the Gulch. I have long followed and supported your fathers career and am happy to say that you are the only current candidate that appears to have a full grasp of the Constitution and are willing to consider issues in that light.

    Which brings me to today. You have no doubt heard or will soon hear that this morning the Department of the Interior has announced the most enormous and egregious land grab in history with the release of the intended Greater Sage Grouse Land Use Plans in the western United States. Eleven Western States will be disastrously impacted by the Proposed Plan in the GRSG FEIS. That is actually a measure of how many sage grouse there actually are - across eleven States, but they don't care, this is an Agenda 21 land grab of monumental proportions.

    My livelihood as a geologist and a project I have been working on for the last year and half is now essentially taken by being subject to an arbitrary locatables mineral withdrawal in an historic gold mining district no less.

    We in Nevada feel it is now time to nullify the unconstitutional holding of the federal government on 87% of the State of Nevada. Would you support this concept?

    Thank you.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 2 months ago
    Senator Paul,
    I am certain we would ask you more questions than the moderators of the GOP debates... :) Would you consider joining the Gulch as a regular member?
    Respectfully,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 2 months ago
    Flat Tax or Fair Tax? Flat Tax = a No Vote. Fair Tax a Yes Vote.
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    • Posted by WilliamRThomas 9 years, 2 months ago
      Rand Paul proposes a "flat and fair tax" on business and personal income of 14.5%. And proposes eliminating the rest of the tax code. I hope I'm representing his view right.
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      • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 2 months ago
        That will take some explaining. Is it flat tax and fair tax leaving income tax in place."

        As I recall income tax started out at 5% on the very highest incomes but didn't stay there long.

        'Of three choices right, wrong and center two of them are wrong.'

        I'm already in the nearest bracket to 14.5 and he wants to add a national sales tax? That's a Nancy Pelosillyni idea it's called VAT.

        Thanks but no thanks.
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        • Posted by vader543 9 years, 2 months ago
          He addresses this in his tax plan which gives an automatic deductible of 15,000. So you only pay 14.5% on income over 15,000, additionally, your FICA Taxes are eliminated and rolled into the 14.5 flat business tax. I was worried about this too but studied his tax plan thoroughly. If you make 15,000 a year, you pay zero income taxes and zero FICA taxes. I'm 100% sure I'm correct, but if Dr. Paul would like to correct me, please do so so that I am better informed
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          • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 2 months ago
            A premise to check. Businesses don't pay taxes they collect for the government and add it into the cost of overhead as COG cost of government. Only the consumer the end user pays tax.

            So you cut income tax a little and add a VAT to the embedded hidden taxes I'm already paying and add an open tax which I'm not paying in a non sales tax state

            Peter pays Paul and Peter Paul's last name is Citizen.

            However if it gets rid of the fascist socialist income tax completely and hopefully applies that to State level I'm all for it. The modified Fair Tax way replaces part of the percentage first mentioned by routing it through business but it's still my choice to buy or not buy.

            I
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    • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 2 months ago
      What percentage of the current Republican Congressionals are RINOS? If a minority why aren't they given the axe. If a majority why don't the rest of you form a real two party system?
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        Posted by RandPaul 9 years, 2 months ago
        I ran for office because I was unhappy about Washington. The more I see Washington, the more unhappy I am. Our government is dysfunctional and doesn't work. I'm a huge proponent of term limits and would throw everybody out, myself included.

        We need to start fresh. We need term limits. 12 years is more than enough time in the Senate, and more than enough time in the House. The status quo remains because the same people remain, decade after decade. I think sometimes they harken back to electorate that elected them decades ago that’s not today's electorate.

        The public is about a decade ahead of government. Right now, people are upset and unhappy and justifiably so. The people want us to act, not to cower in the corner while Democrats continue to spend recklessly.
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        • Posted by cdgooding 9 years, 2 months ago
          Why are term limits necessary, though? Why can't the electorate just vote in new people? If a congressional member is good, like your father, why would we want to limit his ability to make an impact?
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  • Posted by TheAnswerer1 9 years, 2 months ago
    Next, I am wondering if it was all planned for the (CNN) debate. Prior to the CNN debate you suggested that you were going to come at Trump with 'both barrels'.

    Shortly after the start of the prime time he came at you instead. You smiled and let him attack parried and stepped away, was that your plan all along to show just how little it takes to set him off?
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