With its "Live Free or Die" motto, New Hampshire would seem to be tailor-made for the libertarian-flavored presidential campaign that Sen. Rand Paul is taking for a trial run. But, as his father, former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, learned in 2012, translating the typical New Hampshire voter's skepticism about big government into Republican primary votes is easier said than done.
Ever since Barack Obama was nominated in 2008 as the Democratic candidate for the president of the United States, his staunchest critics have implied that he had the makings of a dictator.
President Obama's election was a hopeful moment for civil rights advocates who thought he would usher in a golden era of government openness and respect for civil liberties, but some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters have expressed the harshest condemnation this week as revelations of multiple controversies involving intrusive government overreach have exploded onto the national stage.
While the IRS scandal is only a week old, Capitol Hill Republicans already are pushing more than a half-dozen pieces of legislation that would punish and clip the wings of the beleaguered agency.
President Obama seems to have departed from his duly elected duties, Sen. Rand Paul said Monday, referring to the growing scandal on the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofits.
Rex Elsass, chief executive of the largest Republican campaign advertising firm in the country, might have answered "yes" if he had been on the "Should we shoot all the consultants now?" panel at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference.
Laying the groundwork this weekend for likely White House bids, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal reached out to Republican voters in the two states that open the presidential nomination race — sounding the unofficial starting gun of the 2016 campaign.
It's never too early raise the curtain on a 2016 presidential play. Sen. Rand Paul knows his lines and will command the political stage in Iowa on Friday — and in New Hampshire on Monday.
The emotions raised by the Boston Marathon bombing are clouding the judgment of policymakers, tempting them to expand domestic surveillance to thwart future attacks. Constitutional rights once surrendered are likely to be impossible to regain.
