Let's say Rand Paul is elected president:
1. How will Rand Paul deal with the filibuster in the Senate? It looks like the Democrats will hold their 46 seats in the chamber and maybe even take control following the 2016 elections. If either of those two things happen, then any bill other than criminal justice is DOA unless he somehow persuades the Republicans to use the nuclear option. Where does he stand on this? Does he even have enough goodwill among Repubs to take this drastic stance?
2. How will Rand manage the different Republican House factions? At present, there are about 25+ Freedom Caucus hardliners who are friendly to Rand's viewpoints. The rest are either wishy-washy Repubs or Dems. How will he persuade them to pass his agenda? Is he friendly with the House leadership? Can he get McCarthy to pass his bills or will he prod the Freedom Caucus into another revolt?
3. Rand Paul's viewpoints are antithetical to many in the federal bureaucracy. Will he fire them all and replace them with more liberty-minded appointees or retain most of them to earn goodwill? Who will be these liberty-minded appointees? And how will he deal with Bush and Obama's "burrowers," people that they've implanted so deep in the bureaucracy network that they basically can't be fired and yet exert wide control over policy?
4. What is Rand's position on the judiciary? What kind of justices is he looking to put in there? Scalia-types or maybe even a throwback to William Douglas? Will he pressure justices publicly to issue decisions favorable to him like Obama did or just stay silent?
5. How will Rand Paul resist the urge for endless wars? Fire all the generals who are hawks and replace them with doves? Close all our military bases abroad? Get the Saudis and Egypt to lead in the region instead of relying on our handouts? But then you get into the issue of impoundments, which the Supreme Court has ruled illegal. How will Rand Paul shrink our bloated war budget if the vast majority of both parties are for more war?
6. Will Paul pardon Snowden and shutdown the illegal NSA and CIA surveillance? How will he counter the massive pushback from these agencies?
7. How will Rand Paul deal with the media? They will launch daily attacks saying he is ruining the country. Circumvent them and go the route of FDR's radio broadcasts or Reagan's many Oval Office addresses and speak directly to the people?
I like Rand the best out of all the Republicans and I hope he wins, but he might be in legitimate danger of assassination if he tries to implement his agenda too quickly.
1. How will Rand Paul deal with the filibuster in the Senate? It looks like the Democrats will hold their 46 seats in the chamber and maybe even take control following the 2016 elections. If either of those two things happen, then any bill other than criminal justice is DOA unless he somehow persuades the Republicans to use the nuclear option. Where does he stand on this? Does he even have enough goodwill among Repubs to take this drastic stance?
2. How will Rand manage the different Republican House factions? At present, there are about 25+ Freedom Caucus hardliners who are friendly to Rand's viewpoints. The rest are either wishy-washy Repubs or Dems. How will he persuade them to pass his agenda? Is he friendly with the House leadership? Can he get McCarthy to pass his bills or will he prod the Freedom Caucus into another revolt?
3. Rand Paul's viewpoints are antithetical to many in the federal bureaucracy. Will he fire them all and replace them with more liberty-minded appointees or retain most of them to earn goodwill? Who will be these liberty-minded appointees? And how will he deal with Bush and Obama's "burrowers," people that they've implanted so deep in the bureaucracy network that they basically can't be fired and yet exert wide control over policy?
4. What is Rand's position on the judiciary? What kind of justices is he looking to put in there? Scalia-types or maybe even a throwback to William Douglas? Will he pressure justices publicly to issue decisions favorable to him like Obama did or just stay silent?
5. How will Rand Paul resist the urge for endless wars? Fire all the generals who are hawks and replace them with doves? Close all our military bases abroad? Get the Saudis and Egypt to lead in the region instead of relying on our handouts? But then you get into the issue of impoundments, which the Supreme Court has ruled illegal. How will Rand Paul shrink our bloated war budget if the vast majority of both parties are for more war?
6. Will Paul pardon Snowden and shutdown the illegal NSA and CIA surveillance? How will he counter the massive pushback from these agencies?
7. How will Rand Paul deal with the media? They will launch daily attacks saying he is ruining the country. Circumvent them and go the route of FDR's radio broadcasts or Reagan's many Oval Office addresses and speak directly to the people?
I like Rand the best out of all the Republicans and I hope he wins, but he might be in legitimate danger of assassination if he tries to implement his agenda too quickly.
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