It’s been a long, depressing few years for conservatives. Sadly, conservative titan Ronald Reagan and his policies of trickle-down economics departed long ago and have since been replaced by defeat after crushing defeat in elections and policies. But good, old-fashioned conservative values aren’t dead — far from it. In fact, there appears to be a brightly burning star on the ascendency amidst the bleak darkness that is conservatism on a national level.
It takes the form of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, of 13-hour filibuster fame, a move which will no doubt be written about in history books as the watershed moment in the rise of 21st century conservatism.
The simple fact is, the current political climate is highly evocative of what led to Reagan’s 1980 victory — a feat that would have been impossible, had it not been for conservative Barry Goldwater’s embarrassing 1964 presidential loss to Lyndon Johnson. Dissension within the party, following the election blowout, led to the rise of a new political class of young, passionate conservatives who swept Reagan into office.
Fast forward to 2012, when a supposedly neck-and-neck election ends in a stunning blowout for Barack Obama. Republicans were left bitter, divisive and terrified about their competitiveness at a national level. Rallying cries for moderation echo throughout the party, dissension inevitably erupts among the establishment GOP. This led to the young, diehard conservative wing that has recently become nationally prevalent: the Tea Partiers.
Doesn’t this sound like the post-1964 state of the Republican party? It should.
Enter Rand Paul and his filibuster of CIA nominee John Brennan in an attempt to make the Obama administration answer for their disturbingly vague position regarding their legal ability to carry out domestic drone strikes.
There are two indications of the resounding success of this epic soliloquy. The first indication came with the viciousness of the Congressional old guard — chiefly John McCain and Lindsey Graham — when they lashed out against Paul and his supporters, calling them “wacko birds” and “kooks.” Nothing screams political legitimacy like hysterical name calling. Second, is the supposed gimmick that actually forced Attorney General Eric Holder to clarify the administration’s position. Clearly, someone felt threatened. This was all around a decided win for Paul, who even received support from former green jobs czar and avowed communist Van Jones.
Since then, Paul hasn’t faded into obscurity but, rather, has risen from it. He gave a rousing speech at CPAC and released his own solution to the debt crisis — a five-year budget that not only balances in the same allotted time but axes several federal leviathans, like the Department of Education. If that wasn’t enough to make even the toughest conservative salivate, it completely overhauls the tax code, instituting a 17 percent flat tax.
What’s the next step for the libertarian hero? The presidency.
While 2016 may be a few years away, Rand Paul’s ascendancy has all the makings of a historical repeat of Ronald Reagan’s 1980 win, in character and political climate.
When Strom Thurmond filibustered the Civil Rights Bill in 1957 for 43 1/2 hours, he famously read his grandmother’s recipes. Paul made better use of the time, discussing the Constitution and the implication of 21st-century technology, such as the drone program, on civil liberties for the entire 13 hours; the man knows what he’s talking about. He’s soft spoken and respectful, but he’s passionate and has a quick wit, much like the Gipper. And, best of all, he doesn’t have the cringe-inducing tendency to nonsensically ramble about foreign policy, like his father. Paul has detractors who find him too obscure, too extreme. But let’s remember, Ronald Reagan was considered too kooky to ever win a national election. And after the successive losses of unattractive moderates, why not give an actual principled conservative a shot at the national office?