I haven’t been weighing in much on presidential politics, but I’m sure I will get into it more as the year goes on.  I don’t know that it is going to make much difference in who ends up in the White House, but it is still a good idea to pay attention.

Rand Paul is now in full swing and his comments are being recorded.  He came out and said that ousting Saddam was a mistake.  I’m not sure that it takes that much courage or wisdom to say that in 2015, but there are still a lot of Bush apologists in the Republican ranks, including a Bush that is running.

On the other hand, Rand Paul also stated that he stands by Obama in his use of drone attacks that “accidentally” killed two hostages, including an American.  I put the word “accidentally” in quotes because what does anyone expect when people are dropping bombs from thousands of miles away?

Rand Paul is the most pro-liberty candidate in the field right now for either major party.  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he is the least statist.

Rand Paul is also probably the best senator out of a hundred, but we can only judge that based on what he says.  It also isn’t saying much with that group of people.

With that said, I hope that libertarians are not counting on Rand Paul to be anything like a good president, if elected.  Maybe we could hope that he would be slightly better than Ronald Reagan, who grew the federal budget by two-thirds while in office.

On foreign policy, I don’t trust Rand Paul at all.  He will fold in favor of the establishment.  He probably won’t be a war hawk to the extent of George W. Bush, but he could still be bad.  Don’t confuse Rand for his father, Ron.

If Rand Paul is already sucking up to the establishment by taking these wishy-washy positions on foreign policy, then it will be even worse when he is president.

I really don’t like to pick on Rand Paul, but there is little choice at this point.  I think his dad is great and he has been the single biggest promoter of liberty in the last hundred years or more.  And I’m sure Rand Paul is a nice guy.

I don’t like being so critical of Ron’s son, but he has given us no choice.  He is a sitting U.S. senator.  He is running for the presidency.  He wants to have power over our lives.  Therefore, I have no choice but to criticize him where he ought to be criticized.

I am not against Rand Paul any more than any of the other candidates.  But if I spend more time criticizing him, it is only because many libertarians support Rand Paul and I don’t think they should.  They can support him when he says something that is actually pro liberty.  But overall, he does not deserve to get the same supporters who supported his father.

We’ll see how his ever-changing positions develop as the campaign goes on.