Rand Paul: I'm a "Fan" of Divided Government
With 37 incoming members who also identify themselves as Tea Party politicians, it won't be his affiliation that makes Sen.-Elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.) unique on Capitol Hill in January.
But it may be his excitement about working with a divided House and Senate that sets him apart.
In an interview with "Washington Unplugged," this Republican from Kentucky says he looks forward to working with a House controlled by his party and a Democratic White House and Senate, calling himself a "fan" of divided government. (watch the interview at left)
"Divided government means more debate. I think debate is healthy. When one side has a vast majority then nobody debates," Paul said. "I think that's what the federal takeover of health care was. One side got everything they wanted."
Paul said in the interview he would love to meet the president and that working with President Obama will be "interesting." On Sunday's "Face the Nation," Paul told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer that he is still waiting for a phone call from the president and looks forward to informing him of Tea Party position, particularly on the economy.
Mr. Obama and Paul may agree- reducing the federal deficit will require some tough choices.
"Within a few years Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will consume the entire budget and then there's nothing left. Zero left for anything else, if we don't reform the system. And that means some tough choices," he said.
Mr. Obama echoed that sentiment in remarks in Asia last week, reacting to the debt commission's preliminary recommendations.
Paul cited Kentucky constituents' concerns that the federal government has grown at an "enormous rate," singling out Obama's health care reform legislation.
"Now we've got more pressure on the budget because they created a long-term entitlement in health care that wasn't here before this bill," Paul said.
Regarding the movement credited with getting him elected, Paul said he hoped the Tea Party would have a big influence in 2012.
"The good news for those of us who are Republicans is that the Tea Party has increased our power and given us new energy," Paul said. "But the Tea Party isn't just Republican. They will tell Republicans, if you don't vote the right we will throw you out of office too."
CBS News political analyst John Dickerson, Politics365.com's Charles Ellison and Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy also appeared with Schieffer on Monday's "Washington Unplugged." You can watch the full show below:
"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.
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Guess what Liberals, most Democrats are terrible. Guess what Conservatives, most republicans are terrible.
Can you not just see that they purposely pit us against each other, debating useless points (yes you Cattzen), meanwhile they continue to pass laws that ALWAYS benefit the largest corporations more than anyone else. I'm a Ron Paul Libertarian, because after being Liberal my entire life, I took a step back from the political game, and saw that the Government does nothing efficiently and rarely passes laws that help more than the unintended consequences hurt.
I believe there is a role for Government to play, but not now, not with this BS system.
I'm willing to give Rand a chance. I'm not a huge fan yet, but so many of you are damning him because of Sound Bites or what a couple of his supporters did. How bout we wait till he's actually in the Senate, ignore the fact that he has (R) before his name, and judge him on his votes, debates, and actions.
This is OUR country people, keep squabbling about petty crap fed to us by the Parties and the Media, and we will continue to lose. Let's get ACTUAL DEBATE and find ACTUAL SOLUTIONS.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 does more than that simplistic summary says. It says that private clubs can still discriminate for example, without defining what a private club is. Since they have memberships and are private clubs based on that membership, can AAA, Sam's Club, Blockbuster Video, and Amazon.com discriminate if they want? Probably. Having some more discussion of this before passing the final bill would have helped things a bit. Rand Paul has said that he would have had some more discussion of the bill if he were in congress in the 1960's, not that he wants to repeal it. If you believed the propaganda that he wanted to repeal the Civil Rights Act, then wouldn't he be a Democrat? Democrats filibustered the Civil Rights Act because they felt that it was too intrusive and it blocked the Jim Crow laws which were created by Dems. Jim Crow laws are what caused the problem to begin with... local laws were created in Democrat states saying that it was illegal for restaurants to serve whites and blacks together. The notion that businesses would be more profitable by turning away customers... that's silly... restaurant owners wanted to let all customers in, but laws created by Democrats are what forced them to discriminate (their argument was rights based too... they said that white people should have the "right" to eat in a black-free environment). If it was more profitable to discriminate, then Sam's Club and Blockbuster Video and all those would be doing it right now.
Basically, pretty much all of the goals of the Civil Rights Act would have been accomplished if they had simply gotten rid of the Jim Crow laws. Rand Paul has specifically said that he doesn't want to repeal the Civil Rights Act as his opponent claimed; his opponent was just smearing him. It's like if somebody accused Obama of opposing the 'Obamacare' health care bill because he thinks there should be the single payer stuff put in. Does Obama want to repeal it and all that junk? No, he just would prefer to discuss it more, and possibly change parts of it.
- since the 70's, Republican President's have deficit spent more than Democrats. Just look up Reagan and Bush.
Don't to forgt to look up "I never met a huge bloated intrusive government bill I didn't like" Obama. He is at a pace to overspend more in three years than fiscally (un)conservative Bush did in eight. As America gets closer to bankrupt time, both Repubs and Dems steal more from the kitty.
Am I wrong here?
The failures of the bureaucracy are, for the most part, a failure of the legislators' willingness to adapt and embrace incrementalism as a legitimate path to smart government. The complexity of society demands government, and anyone who doesn't defer to this fact is not serious about fixing America's problems.
For the most part, yes. I'd say the biggest problem is that our politicians are bought and sold by corporations. Our congress couldn't pass anything, until it came time to pass a bill that would allow banks to foreclose with their eyes closed. It was a huge giveaway to the banking industry and republicans and democrats displayed bipartisanship...why? Because the banks own them. Fortunately our President vetoed the bill.
He is absolutely right.
Also, since the 70's, Republican President's have deficit spent more than Democrats. Just look up Reagan and Bush.