Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says he wants to be “the first president who doesn’t try to attain the most power, but give that power back to the states and to the people.” I Esteban Portillo / The Cougar
Presidential candidate Rand Paul didn’t waste any time in his first rally in Texas as he walked out to the podium in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown, calling out for the ‘leave-me-the-hell-alone’ coalition—which received rising cheers from a variety of supporters— on Friday afternoon.
Defeating the “Washington Machine,” along Freedom Economic Zones to reduce poverty and college tuition tax deductibles were highlighted by the Republicans in the Stand with Rand event.
“The government wants to get a piece of you,” said Paul. “I want to give you your freedom back. Justice Brandeis said ‘that the right most cherished by civilized men is the right to be left alone.’”
One of his prominent proposals is to kill the Patriot Act – shutting down the NSA’s surveillance program – which he momentarily blocked from passing in a 10-hour filibuster in May.
In an initiative directed towards college students, Paul wants to make tuition entirely deductible. Currently, tuition deductibles are limited by income level, among other restrictions.
Families or spouses who make less than $160,000 combined a year can get up to $4,000 deducted in tuition, according to the IRS.
“I’d like to let students treat student loans as a business expense,” Paul said. “If we stretch the deduction over 20 years or so and if we took the caps off [deductibles] so more people can deduct it, then this could be a huge thing.”
Economics sophomore Andrew Melton believes this could help students financially and get Paul some support.
“To get my vote, he’d need to get us a plan on how to combat student debt and help us get affordable college,” Melton said. “I’m just trying to get through college.”
The senator might appeal to the wide political spectrum with his libertarian stance gaining some of his father’s, Ron Paul, supporters, his fiscal conservatism getting some Tea Party nods, while keeping mainstream Republicans nearby with his American Dream Summit.
Senator Paul is the top contender to beat Hillary Clinton among independent votes —45 percent to 37 percent—according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll.
Paul is also leading over Hillary Clinton in five states, including Pennsylvania, who hasn’t been won by a Republican since 1988.
Trying to defeat Washington is like trying to defeat your parents. Unless your parents are using you as a Tiki lantern or worse, you might want to rethink defeating them and plan to deal with them until you can subplant them.