Rand Paul Speaks, UC Berkeley Listens

This shouldn't be too surprising, Libertarian ideas on freedom and the right to be left alone appeal to many. [Link]

This week, Rand Paul spoke at the of the University of California at Berkeley. He focused primarily on the National Security Agency’s collection of telephone metadata and the privacy debate our country is currently embroiled in. Surprisingly, he received multiple standing ovations from what we can safely assume was a mostly left-leaning audience.

Paul’s warnings to students were blunt,

“Your right to privacy is under assault.”
“I am here to tell you that if you own a cell phone, you’re under surveillance,”

And his concerns for their privacy couldn’t be stressed enough,

“When [the intelligence community] says, ‘Oh, it’s only boring old business records,’ think what information is on your Visa bill. From your bill, the government can tell whether you drink, whether you smoke, whether you gamble, what books you read, what magazines you read, whether you see a psychiatrist, what medications you take.
I oppose this abuse of power with every ounce of energy I have. I believe that you have a right to privacy, and it should be protected.”

In response to Paul’s decision to speak at a campus which has historically been left-leaning and less than supportive of those who lean right, Roger Simon sharply observes,

The country is changing. Whole new groups are ripe for the picking, most obviously the young who are being so completely raked over by the Obama administration via Obamacare and the rest of the entitlements so many of them know they will never see. They were ready to applaud at Berkeley.
And African Americans — when, since the end of Jim Crow, have they done worse than under the Obama administration with its record black unemployment numbers and horrifying statistics on out-of-wedlock births in their community? Consciously or unconsciously, Democrats have been waging a “War on Blacks” since the days of the Great Society. It’s been a disaster for African Americans, a nightmare, in truth.But where are the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, on that? They should be in the black communities talking to them about it, suggesting ways to make things better. Instead, they just sit around getting annoyed when the Democrats call them racists. Play offense, not defense.

Note: Simon’s observations neatly dovetail with my local assemblyman’s: Republican candidates do not campaign in pockets of minority areas struggling with high unemployment, heavy crime, and poverty. He said the mere fact that he just shows up, speaks volumes to residents who rarely, if ever, take the time to listen to Republican candidates. Furthermore, because he has taken the time to explain basic conservative principles and their practical applications, as well as taking questions from residents, he has received endorsements from civic groups that typically vote Democrat. Something as simple asshowing up, opens doors. Logically, it follows, if a candidate doesn’t show up, doors will not open, and the support will not be there.

Frankly, minority voters should occasionally vote Republican just to keep the Democrats from taking them completely for granted.