Rand Paul Announces Candidacy for President

What has been long expected is now a reality. As of this week, Kentucky Senator, Republican Rand Paul, has announced his candidacy for President of The United States. This doesn’t come as a shock to most political observers, as the junior Kentucky Senator has been hinting at a run for quite some time.

Ironically enough Paul’s fiercest opposition may come from his fellow Republicans as opposed to Democrats. Rand Paul, like his father former Congressman Ron Paul, has strong Libertarian roots. This means he has a much more non-interventionist foreign policy then many Republicans and even President Obama. Paul opposed arming the Syrian rebels against Assad, and he opposed bombing Iran.

When it comes to domestic issues Paul also bucks his party. Rand Paul supports restoring voting rights to convicted felons and supports reforming our criminal justice system. Paul is also a strong supporter of legalizing medical marijuana. Paul also has a much less hard-lined approach when it comes to same sex marriage. All in all Rand Paul is extremely for small government, which may help him with his conservative base.

Rand Paul has been increasingly critical of Obamacare and The Obama administration in general. Paul also said that Hillary Clinton should be “disqualified” from running for president of The United States, because of her handling of The Benghazi terrorist attacks in September 2012. Paul is to the right of the President on most issues.

Rand Paul is the second Republican to announce their candidacy for President. The first was Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz and Paul have been friends in the senate and it will be interesting to see how the two treat each other going forward in this race.