Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Rand Paul: ‘We want a government that minds its own business’

Rand Paul addresses a rally at BSU on Thursday (Betsy Z. Russell photo)
Rand Paul addresses a rally at BSU on Thursday (Betsy Z. Russell photo)

Rand Paul told a crowd of just over 300 at Boise State University today that at a recent barbecue, the guy ahead of him was taking two plates of food, so he advised him he wasn’t going to live long eating like that. “He said well, my granddad lived to 105,” Paul said. Paul said he responded that he didn’t live to 105 eating like that. “He said, ‘No, he lived to be 105 by minding his own business.’”

Amid laughter, Paul said, “Sometimes I think we could sum up our political philosophy by saying we want a government that minds its own business.”

He said, “We want to be left alone, because we want to be more free. … But it also turns out there’s a great side benefit, prosperity.” Paul said, “I believe in your right to be left alone,” and he said that’s grounded in the U.S. Constitution.

Among his biggest applause lines came when he talked about the onerousness of the federal tax code, and said, “Let’s scrap the whole damn thing and start over.” People should be able to file their taxes on a simple card, he said. Companies would flock to the United States if the taxes and regulations were less onerous, he said.

Paul said what “President Obama is doing to this country” is “the collapse of the separation of powers.” He said, “It’s been going the wrong way.”

Said Paul, "What the Constitution is about is not binding you, it's about binding and restraining" the power of government. He added, amid light laughter, "This isn't about blather from some reality TV star. This is about the fight to retain the power in the people. ... Whether you believe that Washington creates jobs, or that Boise creates jobs. ... The question you have to have is do you want more money left in Boise, or do you want it sent to Washington?"

"I want to make government smaller," Paul declared. "Do you want your government to be smaller?" The audience responded with cheers and applause. 

Paul said any Republican will win Idaho. “That’s great, we love you,” he said. “But we’ve got to talk about how do we win Illinois.” Republican politicians, he said, have been saying “we need to dilute what we stand for … and if we were Democrat-lite we could win again. I say hogwash. That’s not what we need. What we need is to be boldly for what we are for.” He said, “I don’t want to be the party of the less bad. … I want to be the party that says we’re going to grow the economy gangbusters by cutting taxes dramatically , balancing the budget and making government smaller again.”

He spoke at length about foreign policy, saying, “Why don’t we start not giving any money or any arms to countries that hate us?” He said, “The great irony is that we’ll be back to fight against our own weapons,” and told the crowd, “If you want more war or if you want to be back in the Middle East, you’re looking at the wrong guy.” Paul said like Ronald Reagan, he believes in “peace through strength.”

He took several jabs at Donald Trump, saying Trump wanted a parking lot for his casino, so he got the government to condemn and take a woman’s house. “He’s a guy that has been on the wrong side of every issue” for the past 40 years, Paul said.

He also said Republicans are good at supporting the 2nd Amendment, but they need to support all the amendments. “You can be a minority because of the color of your skin or the shade of your ideology,” he said. “You can be a minority for a lot of different reasons.” The answer, he said, is “you separate that power. … You want to have the checks and balances.”

He said, “If we defend the 6th Amendment with the same passion that we defend the 2nd Amendment, you know what? We’re going to rock and roll to victory, and we’re going to be the dominant party. That’s the party that I want to be a part of.” The 6th Amendment deals with criminal prosecutions, guaranteeing the rights to a speedy, public and fair trial.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

Follow Betsy online: