Rand Paul, a party savior?

I'm a registered Republican, and let me say, sometimes its hard to have that affiliation in America today. While I agree with a lot of conservative economic values and a conservative approach to government , I cant get past the social conservatism of many of the mainstream Republican candidates that take the spotlight on a national stage. I, like many other young Republicans and Libertarians would much rather see politicians reign in the deficit and fix the economy than worry about legislating morality. The anti abortion and anti gay rhetoric often propagated by some members of the GOP has only helped to turn away young voters, like myself while the Democratic Party has increased its youth base.

During the past election I had the chance to campaign for a great politician in the Republican Primary, Ron Paul, but unfortunately, even from the start most in his organization new that he would have little chance to compete nationally. As I think back to some the candidates and politicians that have been the faces of our party for the past couple years I think of Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rick Santorum and I have no trouble seeing why Republicans get made to look like idiots on a consistent basis. Not only do Republicans often make themselves seem like bigots with their anti abortion anti gay rhetoric, but they somehow are able to forget their Ivy League educations whenever they get behind a microphone. MERICA'. While there are so many intelligent and polished Republicans that the party could choose to push to the podium, for some reason this just dosent happen.

For this reason I'm excited looking forward to the 2016 election. I'm excited by the thought that Senator Rand Paul may step forward as a competitive presidential candidate. Today it became public that Senator Paul has made efforts with the Kentucky State legislature to clarify election law, which would allow him to run for a Senate position and the presidency at the same time, just as Lydon B. Johnson did. This sign of a 2016 presidential campaign is very exciting to me and others who have been waiting for a savior for the Republican party.

 In early straw polls Paul has fared well, and I believe that he may be the man to unite Libertarian and Republican voters to take the presidency. Paul has been an outspoken advocate for the Constitution and conservative spending practices and could surely do wonders for the Republican Party image when given the spotlight of a presidential election. Paul would also surely help to promote the Republican Party to young voters, a demographic that his father, former presidential candidate Ron Paul, had a large following with in 2012.

I tend to agree with some of the political junkies that say nobody will beat Hillary Clinton if she decides to run, but at least Rand Paul's presence in the Republican Party spotlight in 2016 could serve to right the ship and move issues of true importance onto the party's radar.

Only time will tell, and until then all we can do is speculate and hope.



UPDATE: 3/8/2014

So later in the week after my original post Rand Paul spoke at the CPAC conference and won the CPAC straw poll by a strong margin. This is very encouraging because many "establishment" Republicans did not fair well in comparison. He has gotten a lot of media attention over this speech, I suggest you take a look.