Would the Real Rand Paul Please Stand Up?

In the pursuit of being our next President, Rand Paul has practically flipped on every issue he once held a position on. Considering his obvious ties to the Tea Party and Libertarians in the United States, this should come off as troubling. Mind you, I don't count myself in either one of those camps, but I find the mysterious case of Rand's willfulness to appease everyone in the Republican Party to be interesting to say the least. Whereas he once promoted a marginally isolationist agenda in the vein of his father Ron, Rand has seemingly adapted to the modern Republican party -- one that supports big business, money in politics, war and all-around global imperialism.

If anything, Rand is a wonderfully blatant example of bending to the ideals of a political party to keep yourself in power.

So what exactly has Rand flip-flopped on? Let's cover a few key points.

• As recently as 2011, Rand wanted to completely sever all foreign aid to other countries. This included Israel, which has become a beacon of preservation for modern Christian conservatism. By 2014, Rand had gotten on the pro-Israel bandwagon and touted his unwavering support for them. It's amazing what a few years in Congress will do to a man's opinions. He's even gone as far as to explicitly enter bills into consideration that would specifically deny any aid to the Palestinians.
• Only last summer, Rand was clear in his objections to the United States becoming involved in any combat scenarios with the Islamic State, or ISIS. He still held to his non-interventionist ideals, saying that destroying ISIS would be ultimately a moot point. What purpose would it serve the American people? Lo and behold, he suddenly became pro-interventionist as soon as he entered the 2016 Presidential race. Now Rand comes at the situation with fury, saying that ISIS must be completely obliterated. He's in full support of drone airstrikes to cripple and ultimately eradicate the Islamic extremists.
• Rand's signature was on the letter recently drafted by Tom Cotton that was sent to Iran, in an effort to muddy the diplomatic efforts of the Obama administration to reach a nuclear anti-proliferation pact. He must have amnesia. In January, Rand was in full support of a diplomatic plan with Iran and wanted an open, non-partisan dialogue. I guess that message wasn't resonating well enough with the Republican base.
• Two years ago, Rand wanted to see undocumented residents in the United States begin a massive push to obtain legal status. He wanted immigrants to start the documentation and naturalization process without fear of being deported. Now, Rand has come at the immigration debate completely from the other side of the pond -- he deems undocumented immigrants as a massive security threat, which in no way should be granted any form of "amnesty."
• In just a span of twenty four hours in early February of this year, Rand flip-flopped on the vaccine debate. Between two interviews, he stated that vaccines have played a role in causing various debilitating conditions like Autism, only to follow it up with the notion that vaccines do not cause any conditions or disorders. I've heard of forgetful politicians, but to change your position in only a day? That's astoundingly dreadful.
• Rand led a famous 13-hour filibuster in early 2013, of which one of the points he spoke about was the use of drones. He made it clear that drones should not be used on American citizens, stating "I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court." A month later, Rand had changed his tune. He said the following on the Fox Business Network: "I've never argued against any technology being used when you have an imminent threat, an active crime going on. If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and fifty dollars in cash, I don’t care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him." It seems the importance of the Constitution and the right to due process was only temporary to Rand.

The peculiar case of Rand Paul is both disappointing and insightful. While I never agreed with his agenda, I at the very least initially appreciated Rand's ability to be an independent politician. Ultimately, like most other politicians, he ran up the white flag and surrendered to party politics. There's a clear difference between changing your mind as new information becomes available (which is important to making sound decisions) and blatantly pandering to the voting base. As far as I'm concerned, that makes Rand a poor candidate for any political position, much less one that involves leading the most powerful nation on the planet. On a much larger scale, it just goes to show that most politicians that participate in the Republican / Democrat charade are not to be trusted.

I'm (Still) Surrounded By Idiots.

Oh joy! I have had the opportunity to spend even more time with idiots today, except this time in person!

While taking my morning exercise route through the park next door, I was approached by a pack of teenagers with pamphlets. There were a bunch of folks playing baseball at the park this morning, so I assume this group figured it was a good place to reach a lot of people. I'll let you guess what type of good message they were spreading.

Go ahead...

*crickets*

Of course, these silly teenagers wanted to spread the word of Jesus. They were accompanied by an older man with a giant cross around his neck. Even though I repeatedly turned down their pamphlets and tried to walk away, they just wouldn't stop hounding me. The older gentleman asked me what my problem was.

Today was not the day.

"Are you sure you want to know what my problem is? Here's my problem."

I looked all the teenagers in the face and told them that they were being taken advantage of. I asked them to please think for themselves and analyze the leaders in their life. I also asked them to please challenge the ideas that they blindly follow and evaluate their merits via logic and science, not words from an archaic book. I told the older man that he should be ashamed of himself for leading these impressionable teenagers astray. Finally, I explained that they were extremely rude for approaching strangers in a park with the assumption that their message is the correct one.

As their jaws proceeded to drop, I walked away. Thankfully, they were gone when I looped back through the park on my way out.

Oh, but my day wasn't over yet. I had more idiots to come!

After dropping packages off at the post office, I ventured to the local Tractor Supply to pick up some pine shavings. As if entering into the Holy Corporate Temple of Country Living wasn't bad enough -- the gaudy clothing and country music makes my skin crawl. I grabbed my bag of pine shavings, which weigh a considerable amount (40-50 lbs), and got in line. Of course, the guy at the register is slow and wants to talk with every customer. The first guy in line can't decided which dog tie out line he wants to purchase, so he walks away and leaves his items at the register. The next customer in line looked like he crawled out of a coffin. He fumbled endlessly through his wallet, only to attempt to pay with a credit card he had no idea how to use. Mind you, about ten minutes have passed at this point. I spent more time in line than I did getting the pine shavings! Finally, the living mummy gets done and I move up to check out. But no... the dumb-ass with the multiple dog tie out lines returns and expects to check out immediately. The cashier tells me I have to wait as soon as I approach so he can check this other guy out.

Enough is enough.

I dropped the heavy bag of pine shavings on the floor.

"You are killing me, man. This guy gets out of line because he doesn't know what he wants, and now you want to let him cut back in line in front of me? Do you see how heavy this bag is? What's wrong with you?"

I turned to the guy who wanted to cut back in line.

"You got out of line. Did you even consider the other folks in line that you're holding up?"

I turned and pointed to the long line behind me.

"You see all this people? They waited in line just like I did. You want back in line? Go to the end and wait, just like everyone else."

I looked at the cashier again.

"Now, check me out so I can get away from you morons!"

He checked me out and didn't say a word to me. I had nothing left to say to him. And to think, it's only 1 PM! I still have eleven hours in the day remaining!

Oklahoma: Atheists and Gays Not Welcome.

There's some outrageous bigotry going on in Oklahoma, but that's no surprise.

A stone monument depicting the Ten Commandments

sits outside the Oklahoma State Capitol Building.

House Bill 1125, which essentially bans atheists from being married, recently passed the Oklahoma State House of Representatives. It is now headed to the Senate, where it will most likely be approved.

How does it work? Well, it's like this. For any new marriage to be recognized, a member of the clergy must approve any and all marriage licenses. Judges and magistrates would have ZERO say in the matter. That means that the power of the legally binding contract of marriage would be solely under the discretion of priests and other respective church leaders. Of course, conservatives, Republicans and religious organizations are jumping for joy over this bill. If approved, it would mean that any clergy member whom did not see fit to wed a couple (meaning homosexuals and atheists) would not have to.

This is a crafty work of legalese meant to circumvent the potential for homosexuals to receive the same marriage benefits as heterosexual couples. They're essentially tacking it onto the backs of atheists as a way around any forthcoming federal legislation. In essence, they get to kill two birds with one stone.

One of the chief supporters of the bill, Republican Dennis Johnson, has been quoted as saying...

"Marriage was not instituted by government. It was instituted by God. There is no reason for Oklahoma or any state to be involved in marriage."

I find it ironic that Mr. Johnson wants to prohibit the bounds of marriage via legislation, but finds that government has no place in the matter. I wonder if he can see the total hypocrisy in that? Have the supporters of this bill even considered that, without a legally binding marriage license, many couples (gay or straight, religious or atheist) would lose health benefits, death benefits, access to community property and child custody? Obviously not.

Perhaps more troubling is the immense power that would be granted to non-elected religious officials whom would act as de facto magistrates of the state government. By officiating the state law in a method that's clearly filtered through religious doctrine, they'd be blatantly violating the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Should House Bill 1125 be passed by the Oklahoma legislature, it will surely make its way to the Supreme Court.

Oklahoma -- a great place to live... unless you're not a heterosexual Christian.

Angels Among Us.

'Elijah Fed by an Angel' by Ferdinand Bol (painted between 1660 - 1663)

I often hear on television and in the news folks talking about angels. Whether as guardian spirits, protectors or holy interveners, angels exist as heavenly beings of pure joy that look out for our well being. They stop someone from dying, or losing a valuable possession. Perhaps they keep a child from being injured... or worse.

For those of you that know me well, you might be asking yourself...

"Why is Jared talking about angels? He's not even religious!"

You'd be correct in your query. I'm not religious. Normally, I wouldn't discuss a matter such as angels, but an event from today compels me to break from the norm.

While taking care of a business-related matter today, I crossed paths with an old, helpless woman. She called out to me from her dilapidated vehicle. "Sir... Sir... Can you help me?" She spoke with a tinge of desperation. I approached and asked what I could do to assist her. Apparently, her vehicle would not start and she hadn't been able to get someone to help her for a while. I raised her car's hood and could immediately see the issue -- her battery was covered with acid corrosion and the engine wasn't getting enough electricity to turn over. Thankfully, she had a soda pop in her car, which I used to clean the corrosion off. From that point, I pushed her car into a position where I could link my battery to her's and try to jump-start it. After a long bout of pushing her boat of a vehicle (a Grand Marquis to be exact) and giving her steering directions, we got things worked out just right. A few minutes later, her engine was running and she was ready to go.

Before she could pull off, she profusely thanked me and offered up $5 for my help. No matter how much I said no, she wouldn't take the money back.

"Young man, God put you here today for a reason. You were my angel."

With that, I smiled, wished her Happy Thanksgiving and she pulled away.

She didn't know anything about me, even my name. Nor did I catch her name. She didn't know where I came from or what my personal convictions were. Yet, her words got me to thinking.

What if angels are real?

Now, I don't mean that in a feathery wings and halos sort of way. But... what if angels walk among us all the time? What if they're sitting next to us on the subway, or standing in line behind us at the checkout register? What if we're the angels we've been looking for?

We can be good to our fellow man. Our actions reflect how we view ourselves and others. We can choose to value each other as equals and provide a hand when asked. We can choose to be the angels we seek, whether you're a Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist... or anything on the spectrum of personal belief.

As we enter into the Thanksgiving holiday (my most favorite of all), I want to take a moment and show my gratitude to the nameless woman I met today. She taught me an unexpected lesson...

Within each of us is the power to be an angel. We just have to hear the call when asked to be one.