Paul Blurs Libertarian Positions Ahead Of Announcement

The excitement about Rand Paul running for president promoting libertarian ideas has lessened as he’s modified his positions to be more in line with the Republican base. The Washington Post calls it, generously, “a delicate balancing act.”

…Paul is a candidate who has turned fuzzy, having trimmed his positions and rhetoric so much that it’s unclear what kind of Republican he will present himself as when he takes the stage…

There are at least two areas where Paul has moved more in line with the conservative Republican base, somewhat to the consternation of the purists in the libertarian movement: adopting a more muscular posture on defense and foreign policy, and courting the religious right.

Where he once pledged to sharply cut the Pentagon’s budget, for instance, Paul late last month proposed a $190 billion increase over the next two years — albeit one that would be paid for by cutting foreign aid and other government programs…

Paul also has been trying to find common cause with evangelical voters, who have been skeptical of and even hostile toward the energized libertarian element of the GOP.

“The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It doesn’t say keep religion out of government,” he told a group of pastors at a private breakfast on Capitol Hill on March 26.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.