Rand Paul

Rand Paul Offers an Accidentally Useful Jim Crow Analogy in Rationalizing His Party’s Illiberal Shift

Rand Paul's comments that Jim Crow laws were a product of democracy reveals the degree to which he and the Republican Party seek to justify their antidemocratic approach to election law. 

President Rand Paul’s Middle East Policy

by Juan Cole

What would a Rand Paul presidency look like with regard to Middle East policy?

Rand Paul and the Problem of Political Experience

by Jeff Shesol

The troubling thing about Rand Paul and the other Republican hopefuls is their indifference—indeed, their proud resistance—to the kind of experience that broadens one’s perspective and changes one’s mind.

Why Rand Paul stands out

by Julian Zelizer

For many disaffected younger Republicans, Paul offers a version of the conservative agenda that seems foreign to the modern GOP.

Rand Paul Writes Foreword For Confederate Apologist And 9-11 Truther's New Book

Paul: "Judge Napolitano Gets It"

Rand Paul Doesn't Stand a Chance

by Michael Kazin

Libertarianism may be on the rise, but it has no real chance of taking over the Republican Party, much less the nation.

Rand Paul aide with racist past resigns

(The Root) -- Jack Hunter, the controversial aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has resigned nearly two weeks after his previous ties to a white separatist group were revealed. Hunter announced his resignation in an email to the conservative news site the Daily Caller.He expressed embarrassment for some of his previous racially inflammatory behavior, although he stopped short of acknowledging it as racist. His email read in part:I've long been a conservative, and years ago, a much more politically incorrect (and campy) one. But there's a significant difference between being politically incorrect and racist. I've also become far more libertarian over the years, a philosophy that encourages a more tolerant worldview, through the lens of which I now look back on some of my older comments with embarrassment....

Libertarianism's Neo-Confederate Southern Avenger Delusion

by Carole Emberton

Some people undoubtedly choose to wave Confederate flags just to get attention. But what binds people today to yesterday's Confederates is not so much an abhorrence of centralized state power as it is a fear of change.

Joan Walsh: Rand Paul Completely Mangles Lincoln

Joan Walsh is Salon's editor at large and the author of "What's the Matter With White People: Finding Our Way in the Next America."...[W]hen Paul took on [his social media director Jack] Hunter’s hateful writing about Abraham Lincoln [in an interview with the Huffington Post], including the odious essay “John Wilkes Booth was right,” defending Lincoln’s assassination, that he gave us a picture of his troubling views of Lincoln, which display the toned-down influence of neo-confederates.  He starts off well enough. “I’m not a fan of secession,” Paul told Fineman. “I think the things he said about John Wilkes Booth are absolutely stupid. I think Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents.”But then Paul presents a view of Lincoln that’s actually only a few degrees removed from the neo-confederate revisionist history of our 16th president as a tyrannical hypocrite who was also a racist. Here’s what he said:

Rand Paul aide a neo-Confederate

Jack Hunter, a congressional aide to Sen. Rand Paul with a history of "neo-Confederate" and "pro-secessionist" views, has produced dozens of articles and video commentaries for The Daily Caller and appeared as what one Fox Business host termed a "regular" guest on that network. He also helped then-Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), currently the president of The Heritage Foundation, write his most recent book.The conservative Washington Free Beacon reported today that Hunter, a "close" Rand Paul aide who also co-wrote the Kentucky Republican's 2011 book, "spent years working as a pro-secessionist radio pundit and neo-Confederate activist ... Hunter was a chairman in the League of the South, which 'advocates the secession and subsequent independence of the Southern States from this forced union and the formation of a Southern republic.'"...

Jeremiah Goulka: A Post-Iraq Security Consensus?

Jeremiah Goulka writes about American politics and culture, focusing on security, race, and the Republican Party, of which he is a former member.  He was formerly an analyst at the RAND Corporation, a recovery worker in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.  He lives in Washington, D.C.  You can follow him on Twitter @jeremiahgoulka or contact him at jeremiah@jeremiahgoulka.com.  His website is jeremiahgoulka.com.

Filibuster has long Senate history

WASHINGTON — The filibuster — used this week by Republican Sen. Rand Paul to oppose John Brennan’s nomination as CIA director — is a parliamentary tactic used to block or delay legislative action.Using a filibuster, a senator can essentially hold the floor to prevent a bill from coming to a vote.Filibusters — from the Dutch word for “pirate” — were popularized in the 1850s and continue today in the Senate on the thinking that any senator should be able to speak as long as necessary on an issue, according to Senate historians. Paul’s filibuster lasted nearly 13 hours, ending early Thursday....