Rand Paul is out-of-step with the Republican Party on foreign policy, national defense, military spending, illegal drugs, and global surveillance, but his positions on those issues are a decent fit with the younger generations.
“Young people, they don’t really associate with Republicans on taxes and regulations. Not that they oppose us, they just don’t have any money so they don’t care much about those issues,” Paul said over the summer on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” “But they’ve all got a cellphone, they’re all on the Internet, they’re all concerned about Internet freedom — and they’re concerned about privacy. And these are precisely issues where we can grow our youth vote.”
I don’t think Rand Paul can win the Republican nomination but, if he did, he would deeply erode the Democrats’ advantage with younger voters. That actually could make him an attractive running-mate for whatever troglodyte actually does win the GOP nomination. Isolated in the Naval Observatory, Paul’s foreign policy opinions would not matter, but his presence on the ticket could make it seem like the Grand Old Party has something to offer to young people.
