Rand Paul Courts His Dad's Fans and Other Republicans

When Rand Paul ran for Senate as a Tea Partier in 2010, he made a point of telling Kentucky Republicans he wasn’t a libertarian like his dad. Once elected, Paul proved it. He voted to impose economic sanctions on Iran—a red flag for libertarians, who don’t believe the U.S. should intervene in foreign affairs—and opposed a pot legalization bill that then-congressman Ron Paul sponsored in the House.

A different Rand Paul has been on display recently. After President Obama issued executive orders on gun control in January, Paul announced he’d write a bill giving Congress the authority to nullify the orders. Nullification of federal powers is a central tenet of libertarians. In March the senator staged a 13-hour filibuster to protest the Obama administration’s secret drone program, calling it a direct threat to civil liberties because American citizens could be targeted without due process.