As most of you know I am not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican party. I am not a political analyst. I’m not even a politics junkie. But occasionally I have something to say about some political issues or politicians. I was just saying how much I wanted to see some more action from the Republican side because the Democrats are killing the game right about now. Ask and you shall receive. Enter a distinguished gentleman from Kentucky by the name of Rand Paul.
Mr. Paul’s filibuster yesterday was not on my radar at first. Then last night one of my Facebook friends mentioned that it was hour #9 and he was still talking. Well that piqued my interest. Mr. Paul’s melodramatic stand against the nomination of John O. Brennan and the drone attacks on American soil turned out to be kinda fascinating. First of all, I cannot believe he had the physical stamina to talk for nearly 13 hours without a break. He had water, tea, and candy bar and kept right on going. Second, I cannot believe that he spoke about the drone attacks the entire time. No killing time with other stupid antics. Just straight talking. Finally, I cannot believe that this grand gesture is all about the drones and John O. I haven’t met a politician yet who doesn’t have some agenda to accomplish so I wonder what’s the real reason for the grandstanding.
The Republicans do have a point with these attacks and President Obama. The issue kinda got swept under the rug during the election season. Obama lost some cool point with me on that. Now they’re calling for answers and Obama still seems to be evading the issue. And he has Eric Holder standing in as his Tom Higgins (Marco Rubio killed me with the Godfather references. Somebody please tell him to sit down somewhere.) Drones killing Americans without due process is wrong. Period. I wish they would take this kind of stand about other human lives are unjustly taken. How many people are killed by the police every year without due process? Senator Wyden, Democrat of Oregon said “The executive branch should not be allowed to conduct such a serious and far-reaching program by themselves without any scrutiny, because that’s not how American democracy works.” Tis true Mr. Wyden. But didn’t former President George Bush pretty do the same thing with the war in Iraq. Uh..huh.
So what makes me smile about all of this? I love how we are free to take a stand and defend what we think is right. We are free to protest and publicly disagree with our leaders. Mr. Paul’s soliloquy may have been over the top and extremely politically charged but it was within his right to do that. And he exercised the hell out of that right yesterday. He had the carjonas to make the effort. He wasn’t afraid to act out. Love it or hate it, democracy works in many ways. I wouldn’t have it any other way.