I hate to have to do this every time, but let's get Rand Paul straightened out. (I feel like Jon Stewart dealing with Fox & Friends). I know, it may not be possible, it's an uphill battle, and nobody will listen to me anyway. First, what has Paul said now to fire up his supporters? (As an aside, there's something funny about exercising your right to vote in order to send someone to the federal government so that they can dismantle what you want them to take part in).
Paul says the federal government giving away money in programs like "Cash for Clunkers" and the stimulus checks is akin to the Roman Emperor in the final days of the Empire giving away food and entertainment to his people. He says our Republic will crumble like Rome's because of our massive debt. Then, to doomsday music, he says, a day of reckoning is upon us. From the Huffington Post:
At the Tea Party event, Paul also warned his audience that he expects the country will face "a day of reckoning" down the line. Ironically, the GOP hopeful used the same metaphor to describe the significance of his status as Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee back in May. On the eve of his primary victory, Paul said his win was a sign that "we are encountering a day of reckoning."
What, exactly, is a "day of reckoning?" It's a "judgment day." Rand Paul keeps using this phrase and I do not think he knows what it means.
First, warning us that we are facing a judgment day, whatever. He's obviously seeing signs that the end is near. One of those signs he says, however, is his own primary victory. Not sure he really should be pointing that out. Typically "signs" for the day of reckoning include things like the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the moon turning blood red, the stars falling onto earth, earthquakes... You know, scary shit. To me, it was scary that Rand Paul got elected so maybe he is using the term correctly. However, I think he would be better off saying "day of awakening."
Paul wants us to know that the United States will fall just as the the Roman Empire did, and that judgment day is upon us. Is he running for prophet or office? Here's the speech he should've given:
Rand Paul: The Federal Government has bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, not just from us, from our fathers and from our fathers' fathers.
Palin: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
Rand Paul: Yes.
Palin: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
Rand Paul: All right, Sarah. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?
George W. Bush: The Levees.
Rand Paul: Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That's true.
John McCain: And the Mineral and Management Service Office!
Palin: Oh yes... MMS, Rand, you remember what the oil rigs used to be like.
Rand Paul: All right, I'll grant you that levees and MMS are two things that the Federal Government has done...
George H. Bush: And the roads...
Rand Paul: (sharply) Well yes obviously the roads... the roads go without saying. But apart from the levees, the MMS and the roads...
Other Republicans: Medicine... Education... Health...
Rand Paul: Yes... all right, fair enough...
Bob Dole: Public swimming pools!
Palin: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now.
McCain: Yes, they certainly know how to keep order... (general nodding)... let's face it, they're the only ones who could in a place like this.
(more general murmurs of agreement)
Rand Paul: All right... all right... but apart from roads and medicine and education and public health and roads and public swimming pools and public order... what has the government done for us?