Kentucky's Senator Becomes America's Senator

Sen. Rand Paul was just magnificent.  I tuned in last night for the ninth hour of Sen.Paul's filibuster, and was shocked to see how composed he still was; he didn't even break a sweat  No reading of the telephone book. Just a cogent explanation of the issue of drone strikes on Americans. After five years of Governance By Teleprompter, how refreshing to see a politician smart enough to ad lib.

As far as the underlying issue of the filibuster, I don't particularly care if Americans who have turned enemy combatants get killed in a drone strike on a foreign battlefield. As far as I am concerned, that person is a traitor who has relinquished his citizenship. Change the location to the United States, however, and the prospect of domestic drone strikes becomes more troubling.

Last night the substantive issue was secondary to the character Sen. Paul displayed. His singleness of purpose, discipline and tenacity were something to behold.  He mesmerized millions, and yet it did not look like self-aggrandizement (because it was not).

 Simply put, Sen. Paul has a reverence for our Constitution that makes him its relentless champion. What Americans saw last night is a man who disregards personal comfort and does not care who mocks him or how long the odds are.  He was doing what he thought was right, literally standing on principle.  For those who worry that the Republican Party has gone soft, it gave hope that we have new leaders who have the courage, as WFB put it, to stand athwart history and yell "Stop!"

The tweets were flying  during Paul's filibuster; the number one trending hash tag last night was #standwithrand.  My favorite tweet:  "Don't drone me, bro!"

When Sen. Mike Lee, as well as Sen. Cruz and Sen. Rubio took to the podium to give Paul a breather, it  sent a message not just of courtesy and collegiality, but of ideological solidarity. It provided a glimpse of a future for America that will be brighter than what we've endured under the Obama regime.