- Sep 2, 2008
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Found this article after what Paulie said. Very interesting.
Libertarians Realizing Rand Paul Is Not One of Them SpeakEasy
Libertarians Realizing Rand Paul Is Not One of Them SpeakEasy
Rand Paul’s position on the Life at Conception Act. As Ari Armstrong notes on his Free Colorado blog, Paul’s anti-abortion stance, unlike his father’s, goes beyond overturning Roe v. Wade and letting the states decide the issue. The younger Paul, who describes himself as “100% pro life,” says “abortion is taking the life of an innocent human being,” “life begins at conception,” and “it is the duty of our government to protect this life.” Toward that end, he supports “any and all legislation that would end abortion or lead us in the direction of ending abortion,” including “a Human Life Amendment and a Life at Conception Act as federal solutions to the abortion issue.”
Anyway, Rand himself has conceded that he’s no doctrinaire libertarian, according to Time:
Pure libertarians, he says, believe the market should dictate policy on nearly everything from the environment to health care. Paul has lately said he would not leave abortion to the states, he doesn’t believe in legalizing drugs like marijuana and cocaine, he’d support federal drug laws, he’d vote to support Kentucky’s coal interests and he’d be tough on national security.
“They thought all along that they could call me a libertarian and hang that label around my neck like an albatross, but I’m not a libertarian,” Paul says...
And Sullum notes that the LP isn’t pleased that Rand is becoming the poster boy for its ideology as far as the media is concerned.
Libertarian Party Vice Chairman Joshua Koch cites Paul’s support for a federal abortion ban, along with his opposition to gay marriage and his refusal to call for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, as grounds for running a candidate against him this fall, which he says the party is considering. “We’re not going to let Rand determine what a Libertarian stands for,” Koch, an erstwhile Paul supporter, told The Washington Post. “I’m here to say Rand does not have the Libertarian ideology.”