So About the Filibuster...

A couple of weeks ago, Senator Rand Paul, stood in front of the senate and filibustered for 13 hours. The reason he delayed the senate was because he wanted to hear the White House say that they would not, based on the Constitution, use drone strikes on American citizens on U.S. soil. As he stood there, many conservatives joined him, which is to be expected. Conservatives have been attempting to take a stand in any way possible against the president’s liberal policies and in this case his nomination for CIA director. However, in my mind the filibuster demonstrated something more than just conservatives versus liberals and I think it should be pointed out.

The first thing that needs to be pointed out is the fact that only one democrat stood on the floor with Paul. This should not have been a partisan issue at all, this was a matter of the White House saying that they will not use military technology to execute Americans on our own soil. Every person in the senate should have stood up because this is a direct violation of the constitutional rights of Americans, and yet only one did. In my opinion this shows just how loyal many democrats are to the president. They feel they cannot stand against any single policy the president supports, even if it is an obvious violation of the constitution. But even more surprising than this was the backlash from republicans.

Senator John McCain immediately came out after the filibuster and criticized Paul in his actions. Maybe the fact that McCain has had problems with the tea party with which Paul is associated led him to criticize the action. Maybe it was something else entirely, but it is strange to think that the once presidential candidate did not like a fellow republican standing against the actions of the man who beat him, regardless of what action he was standing against. It occurred to me after the president won reelection that the republicans were going to have to change or they would become a thing of the past. To me, Paul and those that stood with him represent the new republicans and McCain and others like him represent the old republicans. There is a shift going on within the party and one side will win out. Ultimately the American people will decide which one. But based on the last election maybe they already have. People are looking for someone who will speak for them in the capital and personally I believe speaking against drone strikes on U.S. soil is a pretty good place to start.