Rand Paul's Proposed Budget: far-right ideology in action

Most of the world hardly noticed but Rand Paul proposed a plan to balance the federal budget in five years last week. Paul predictably chose to eliminate most of the federal government in his plan…so it was ignored.

As this column by Keith Rouda at Louisville.com points out, the proposed budget is an interesting document. You can find many of the social and economic preconceptions of the far-right embedded within it.

Kidding aside, as it turns out the budget plan Senator Paul put out provides a level of insight into his thought processes and philosophies that could never be gleaned from campaign ads (for or against him) or the pablum of sound bites that pass for news these days. It is a rather amazing document.

For example, in the opening of the budget plan before he tackles any real specific policies, Paul spends some time discussing government spending as it relates to Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. Then he says this.

…without significantly reducing deficits, debt, and spending, crowding out will reduce the standard-of-living, resulting in a decrease in gross national product per person by 8 percent by 2025 and by 21 percent in 2035.

Believe it or not, this little sentence fragment contains really critical insights into Paul’s understanding of economics, the degree to which ideology colors his creative thought process, and his integrity!

This promises to be a series, which we will revisit.

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