Last Thurs. Oct. 16, Plymouth State University welcomed Kentucky Senator, Rand Paul, who came to the school to discuss a variety of topics and issues, mainly those pertaining to students. Paul has been in Kentucky’s office since 2010 as a senator, but has recently been discussing running for the presidential election. Working with Walt Havenstein, who is currently running for governor of New Hampshire, Paul has begun traveling across the country to speak with various voters on the changes he will make if elected. He plans to fight for the upcoming generation and help give them both the opportunities and the privacy they have been asking for.
Young people voted for President Obama because they were promised privacy, but this promise has not been upheld. Paul took a moment to speak about the government taking phone records from Verizon Wireless providers, an act that many people did not feel threatened by for, at a glance, it seems nothing could be learned from such simple information. When delving deeper into this theory however, it was proven that very personal information can easily be obtained from simply reviewing a person’s call history. Information such as health care providers, friends and acquaintances, business associates, locations, and even the basics of daily routine can be obtained from seeing the calls a person makes and who they make them to. This is just a single example Paul brought to the table on how the privacy of American citizens has not been protected.
Paul goes on to talk about the original reason for taking such information, which was to prevent terrorist attacks after 9/11. While cell phone records have given lead to various terrorist attacks, it has been at the sacrifice of many American citizens’ private records. “What we do or say on our cell phone is none of the government’s damn business,” Paul said.
Continuing the conversation of cell phone privacy, Paul went on to talk about how American citizens have been put into custody for alleged terrorist associations. While at first this may seem like a step in the right direction, these detainments were done without a trial. Richard Jewell was just one example Paul brought up in his case against taking call records. Jewell was an American police officer falsely accused of being responsible for the Centennial Olympic Park Bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Jewell was in fact not guilty and was later found innocent when the true bomber was found. “We all have a right to a trial by jury,” Paul says. “It’s not guilty until proven innocent, it’s innocent until proven guilty.”
Throughout his speech, Paul brought up other changes he hopes to make if elected into office. Paul spent a large amount of time discussing the job opportunities in America and their need for improvement. Paul pointed out how there are less jobs in Kentucky today than there have been since 2008. “I’m not accusing the President of not caring, I think the President cares. It’s just the policies are not working,” Paul said. “Income and equality aren’t answers, they’re to pit you against each other.” Paul went on to talk about his plan for incorporating more jobs into the American work force. He conveyed that in order to give more opportunities to American citizens, he plans to bring more business home from overseas by reducing the business tax, a line of action that was followed through in 2005 and worked to positively impact the amount of jobs available in America. “When we’re all more prosperous, then we’ll be a great country again,” Paul said.
Also present at the meeting was the Head of The College Republican National Committee, Alex Smith. Speaking in support of Rand Paul, Smith agreed to answer a few questions concerning Paul’s campaign and some of their plans for the future.
What single issue concerns this party the most?
Our generation as a whole is one of the most in debt generations in history. In general, there is a serious lack of jobs. Democrats have had six years to fix this problem, and haven’t. It’s time something was done about it.
Why has your party decided to reach out primarily to college students?
There are a lot of enthusiastic students out there that we hope to reach. While we want to reach as many voters as possible, we feel it’s important to introduce college students to the Republican Party as much as possible.
How many other colleges is your party planning to speak to in the New England area?
In this trip we will only be visiting Plymouth. We plan on visiting other colleges throughout the country. The goal is to talk to all voters throughout the state, though we wanted to be sure to reach voters up here first. With more time we plan to visit more colleges in this area to reach as many people as we can.
Continuing with his campaign, Rand Paul seems to have many thoughts and ideas to help improve the working class and give Americans the privacy they deserve. He says he will fight for the upcoming generation and give the people what they want. While it is still far too early in the elections to begin predicting a winner, Rand Paul is definitely a name that will be showing up around the polls.