I was critical of Rand Paul during the presidential campaign.
I didn't like the messaging, the energy level, or the personnel choices. I didn't see any benefit to being a yes man, so I voiced my concerns.
But I'm glad to give credit where it's due, and these days it's really due.
We know Rand has been good on the budget. But he's done other things that deserve to be known.
For one thing, he's opposing the nomination of Marvin Goodfriend to the Federal Reserve Board. These are the kind of nominations that normally sail through. Mike Lee is now saying he's "undecided" about the nomination.
No way Mike Lee was going to stick his neck out had Rand not first staked his ground.
Goodfriend, by the way, has floated kooky ideas about negative interest rates that would seriously deform the economy. He should be opposed. But in D.C., people like him never are.
So good for Rand.
But I also like the way he responded to the President's call for a military parade.
An excerpt:
I propose we declare victory in Afghanistan, bring home our 14,000 troops and hold a victory parade.
We defeated the enemy in Afghanistan. We killed or captured the terrorists who planned, plotted, or aided in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. We killed the ringleader, Usama bin Laden. We disrupted the terrorists’ camps where they plotted and trained. We dislodged the Taliban government that aided and abetted bin Laden.
We just don’t know how to appreciate a good thing. A big part of our foreign policy failures is not knowing when and how to declare victory. So, why not a parade? Bring the troops home and declare the victory that should have been declared years ago.
The only reason victory is elusive in Afghanistan is that presidents continue to have an impossible definition of victory. If victory is creating a nation where no real nation has ever existed, then no victory will ever occur.
If victory requires the disparate tribes and regional factions of Afghanistan to have more allegiance to a regime in Kabul than to their local tribal leaders, then victory will never come.
I didn't like the messaging, the energy level, or the personnel choices. I didn't see any benefit to being a yes man, so I voiced my concerns.
But I'm glad to give credit where it's due, and these days it's really due.
We know Rand has been good on the budget. But he's done other things that deserve to be known.
For one thing, he's opposing the nomination of Marvin Goodfriend to the Federal Reserve Board. These are the kind of nominations that normally sail through. Mike Lee is now saying he's "undecided" about the nomination.
No way Mike Lee was going to stick his neck out had Rand not first staked his ground.
Goodfriend, by the way, has floated kooky ideas about negative interest rates that would seriously deform the economy. He should be opposed. But in D.C., people like him never are.
So good for Rand.
But I also like the way he responded to the President's call for a military parade.
An excerpt:
I propose we declare victory in Afghanistan, bring home our 14,000 troops and hold a victory parade.
We defeated the enemy in Afghanistan. We killed or captured the terrorists who planned, plotted, or aided in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. We killed the ringleader, Usama bin Laden. We disrupted the terrorists’ camps where they plotted and trained. We dislodged the Taliban government that aided and abetted bin Laden.
We just don’t know how to appreciate a good thing. A big part of our foreign policy failures is not knowing when and how to declare victory. So, why not a parade? Bring the troops home and declare the victory that should have been declared years ago.
The only reason victory is elusive in Afghanistan is that presidents continue to have an impossible definition of victory. If victory is creating a nation where no real nation has ever existed, then no victory will ever occur.
If victory requires the disparate tribes and regional factions of Afghanistan to have more allegiance to a regime in Kabul than to their local tribal leaders, then victory will never come.
Well done.
Posted by ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ
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