Of course he doesn't really want to be much to his and our Nation's loss.
I'm not a big fan of Dana Millbank but he got this one right. Rand Paul gives his first speech in the Senate disparaging Henry Clay of all people. Clay, the Great Compromiser, was the political hero of Abraham Lincoln and one of mine as well. There is a solid historical argument that Henry Clay, a Union man, did more to save the Union, free the slaves, and preserve our Constitution than anybody except maybe Lincoln himself. He preserved and promoted the Union through COMPROMISE until the Union was able, even if only barely and through a horrific civil war, to survive a rebellion from those who oddly equated individual and states rights with the spread of ownership of other human beings as chattel property. Now I have good, solid, philosophical AND historical differences with Senator Paul.
Even Lincoln, not at all an abolitionist, was a moderate "compromise" candidate as the only one on whom everyone in the Republican Party of 1860 could agree. And thank heavens for that!
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| Henry Clay of Kentucky |
Clay in the Senate. I understand from Millbank that only Senator DeMint was there to hear the end of Senator Paul's speech. Not like the old days!
SEN Paul once again displays his lack of historical perspective
ReplyDeleteTo be fair here's a perspective from a website more favorable to Sen. Paul:
ReplyDeletehttp://dailypaul.com/155946/henry-clay-biographer-professor-david-heidler-gives-his-thoughts-on-rand-pauls-frist-seante-speech
Some of the news reports also pick up the hint from his speech that the Tea Party is willing to compromise. I read the speech and I'm still with Millbank. Paul refuses to consider taxes as the part of any compromise. He will only compromise on how much to cut. Sounds like more of an intransigent abolitionist or slaveholder than Clay or Lincoln who actually got us to freeing the slaves and preserving the Union. A balanced budget (as in 2001)will most likely come about by some spending cuts (let's start by ending some wars and pulling back some of our military commitments), but also from enhanced revenue- maybe taxes - but it could also come from a stimulus to our capitalist system to enhance the market and generate more revenue. Let's work it out together and stop the dogmatic demands to slash and destroy our government of, by and for the people.