Rand Paul: ‘Nothing’ That Donald Trump Supports Is ‘What the Tea Party Was About’

[thoughtomator]

How Rand differs from Donald Trump on immigration:

• 
  [*=left]Status quo is untenable; we must do some sort of reform. (Jun 2014)
  [*=left]Move beyond amnesty, but eventually to path to citizenship. (Jun 2014)
  [*=left]Illegals are not bad people, but we have to control border. (Apr 2014)
  [*=left]Legal status, but not citizenship, for illegal immigrants. (Mar 2013)
  [*=left]We will find a place for illegal immigrants in America. (Mar 2013)
  [*=left]Replace de facto amnesty with bipartisan reform. (Mar 2013)
  [*=left]See immigrants as assets, not liabilities. (Feb 2013)
  [*=left]Obamacare treats illegal aliens because it's illegal to ask. (Oct 2010)
  [*=left]No amnesty; respect the law. (Jul 2010)

Of those statements the only acceptable ones are the two oldest, which are abrogated by the newer statements. From the Feb 2013 statement forward it represents a capitulation to the Chamber of Commerce crowd.

Liberty requires a robust defense of national sovereignty, and Rand is on the wrong side of this issue both for philosophical purposes and for election purposes, both primary and general.

One of the primary cross-faction appeals of libertarianism is that it is fundamentally a philosophy that respects the concept of the Rule of Law. Rand's positions are offensive to the rule of law; this is one of those things that are killing him both with the base and with the primary electorate. I see no benefit to his steady movement towards the McCain-Bush position on illegals, and a lot of damage being done.