[Vision2020] Rand Paul, one more time

[Joe Campbell]

Sunil,

I agree with your critical comments about the Dems, although likely
they were advised to stay back why the Repubs shot each other. But
that's no an excuse and I agree with you that the foreign drone issue
is a serious one. Paul's comments seem to suggest worries about
domestic use, and that's not the problem, right? I take that your
issue is (a) the overall use of drones to kill people who have not
been found guilty of a crime, and (b) the collateral damage of drone
missions. He doesn't address (b) at all and he only addresses part of
(a). Your concern is not just with Americans, as it should be. Again,
I don't want to criticize what he said. I'm just pointing out that it
strikes me as deliberately vague. Not really an attempt to engage in
dialogue about the evils of drone use but to appeal to the fears of
the radical right wingers. After all, how many Americans have been
killed with drones compared to the number of non-Americans?

That said, I haven't yet read the full set of comments he made during
the filibuster (which Tom has kindly posted). It is disappointing that
when he was given an opportunity to write a column about it for the WP
he remained vague and failed to discuss the full extent of the drone
problem. Maybe you want to give him points because he's at least
addressed the issue, unlike almost anyone else on either side of the
isle. I can understand that but I'm going to wait and see what he does
and says in the coming weeks before I applaud him.

Best, Joe

On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Sunil Ramalingam
<sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Joe,
>
> How does his statement not have to do with drone killings of Americans
> overseas? He's addressing one of my concerns. I'm concerned about all the
> killings, but at least he addressed the issue.
>
> Besides Wyden, where are the Democrats? Struck mute, or inventing defenses.
>
> Sunil
>
>> Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2013 14:54:33 -0800
>> From: philosopher.joe at gmail.com
>> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>
>> Subject: [Vision2020] Rand Paul, one more time
>>
>> So I've waited a few days and I've done a little bit of research and
>> my verdict thus far on Rand Paul is that the filibuster was not the
>> good deed some folks (Sunil, Paul) thought that it was.
>>
>> In today's Washington Post, for instance, he says the following: "I
>> wanted to sound an alarm bell from coast to coast. I wanted everybody
>> to know that our Constitution is precious and that no American should
>> be killed by a drone without first being charged with a crime. As
>> Americans, we have fought long and hard for the Bill of Rights. The
>> idea that no person shall be held without due process, and that no
>> person shall be held for a capital offense without being indicted, is
>> a founding American principle and a basic right."
>>
>>
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sen-rand-paul-my-filibuster-was-just-the-beginning/2013/03/08/6352d8a8-881b-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html?hpid=z2
>>
>> This -- the only substantive reason he gave for his filibuster in the
>> WP today -- has NOTHING to do with drone killings in other countries;
>> nor does it have anything to do with other kinds of civil liberty
>> violations, such as improper searches. Then there is the point that
>> Rose mentioned: How is killing someone with a drone more of a
>> violation of their Constitutional rights than merely shooting them,
>> which happens fairly regularly when police are trying to apprehend a
>> suspect?
>>
>> I love Rand Paul's hair and I want to like him but he seems like a
>> fake. He raised the issue knowing it was vague and ambiguous to gain a
>> fair amount of support -- from well meaning people like Sunil and Paul
>> who are concerned about other important issue related to drones. But
>> he didn't talk about the other important issues.
>>
>> And there is something particularly annoying about fiscal libertarians
>> who are anti-abortion. This isn't a real quote from Rand Paul but it
>> might as well be: "The government should stay OUT of your life --
>> unless it comes to my own personal beliefs, which you should be forced
>> to accept. And by the way, once you pop that baby out, you've got to
>> raise it on your own because I'm cutting all the government programs
>> which might have helped your baby."
>>
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