Ron Paul Can Really Get a Party Started

Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s son Rand is running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky, and Imus thinks he seems like a nice guy. 

“He takes after his mother,” joked Paul, also a Republican.

But he also takes after his conservative father, whose grassroots presidential campaign in 2008 garnered much attention and support from people all over the political spectrum. Rand is a self-defined Conservative Constitutionalist, which his father defined as retaining long-held values in keeping with the Constitution.

“Everybody takes the same oath in Washington, and nobody loses any sleep over not following the Constitution,” said Paul. “But it seems like there’s a great bit of diversity about how you interpret it.”

For instance, some people believe the general welfare clause endorses a welfare state, and that the authority given the Commander-in-Chief to declare war also gives him the right to start any war he wants.

“The President writes laws or executive orders that become the law, the courts rewrite the laws, and they’re in the legislative business,” Paul went on. “The Congress all too often just sits still and doesn’t resist it at all, and allows the usurpation of all the Congressional authority it was given.”

These varying interpretations are less the result of special interest groups, Paul believes, than of philosophical differences. “It’s a philosophic issue what the role of government ought to be,” he said.

Special interests enter the equation only when government becomes too big, Paul insisted. “If you have a government that’s very, very limited in scope and they’re not capable of passing out the favors, then you’re not likely to have so much temptation for special interest to take over,” he affirmed.

Paul has not decided whether he’ll run again for President in 2012, and admitted to Imus he did not really think he could win in 2008. His appeal, particularly among young people, was surprising even to him.

“I think older people, they have trouble being objective,” he said. “They get locked into place.” The younger generation, by contrast, has “always been generally more attracted to principle, and they like consistency, and they’re more idealistic.”

They’re also facing harder times than their parents, many of whom moved into adulthood during more prosperous times. “Now, the jobs aren’t available, the country’s poor, wars continue, debts have to be paid for, personal liberties are under attack, perpetual war exists, and young people say, ‘Hey, what’s the answer?’” said Paul. “And Freedom is the answer.”

Either that or a shotgun in the mouth. 

-Julie Kanfer