Stand with Rand

Stand with Rand meme goes mega-viral across net as citizens get fed up with Obama's lawlessness


(NaturalNews) Patriotic Americans fed up with the growing lawlessness of
the Obama administration and the opposition party's chronic inability
to counter him got a huge shot in the arm the evening of March 6, when
Sen. Rand Paul took to the floor of the Senate to stand up for the
Constitution.

As "senior" members of his Republican Party dined with President Obama
(Paul ate a candy bar for dinner), the Kentucky senator launched a
marathon 12-hour-plus filibuster aimed at blocking a vote on John O.
Brennan, whom the president has nominated to head the CIA, because
Brennan said during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee
that he agrees with the administration that it has a right to kill U.S. citizens on American soil with impunity.

While
the leaders of his party in the Senate seemed content to let that
obvious constitutional usurpation pass without challenge, Paul drew a
line in the sand and vowed not to take "yes, we can" for an answer. So
he dug in his heels, took the Senate floor, and threw up a huge red flag
that tens of millions of Americans - and not a few lawmakers - have
applauded.

Recipe for a renaissance of liberty-minded government

The
evening of March 6, Paul, at the Senate dais, ticked off a litany of
historical references, constitutional passages and other documentation
which supported his argument that attacking American citizens
not presently engaged in an activity that puts lives in imminent danger
is simply not constitutionally permissible. And he did something
exceedingly rare in Washington these days: He did not simply demand an
answer to the very simple "yes or no" question on the issue he posed to
Attorney General Eric Holder earlier in the week; he demanded accountability
from everyone, from the president on down, who seemed to agree that in
the case of plotting certain crimes, due process no longer applies.

Here are some of Paul's most memorable - and most oft-tweeted - quotes from his filibuster:

-- I will not sit quietly and let [the president] shred the Constitution.

-- If there were an ounce of courage in this body I would be joined by other senators... saying they will not tolerate this.

-- I
have hounded and hounded and hounded him (Brennan) [for answers]...
Only after yanking his chain... does he say he's going to obey the law.
We should be alarmed by that.

-- Where's the cacophony
that stood up and said "How can tap my phone without going to a judge
first?' I say: "How can you kill someone without going to a judge
first?'

-- The people on the [administration's hit] list might be me.

-- I'm
not accusing anybody of being [Hitler], [but then noted the law] should
protect you from a president that might kill you with a drone.

Swelling ranks of supporters

Such accurate statements and such a bold stance earned Paul political star status, literally overnight, as reflected in the Twitter universe and in other online forums:

"Sen.
Rand Paul is giving a better human rights speech than Obama Barack ever
has. And no teleprompter was in front of the Senator's desk."

"It's been a while since I could say I am a proud American. Thank you Rand. Stand with Rand!"

"Epic! Stand with Rand!"

"I
get the feeling that a more Libertarian stance is the only thing that
can bring about a fresh start for the GOP. Stand with Rand!"

"I haven't killed anyone yet, and I have no intention of killing Americans. But I might." - Barack Obama

"This isn't a filibuster. This is a line in the sand."

"Do you stand with Senator Rand Paul and demand an answer from the White House on extra-judicial assassinations in America?"

"Thank you, Senator Rand Paul, for standing by We the People. Stand with Rand!"

"I am a two-time Obama voter. I stand with Rand."

In another indication that Paul's message was resonating with a fed-up American electorate, the ranks of his Twitter followers swelled from about 96,720, according to one post, to more than 146,500 as of this writing (if you want to follow him, click here).

The Old Guard disapproved

Not
surprisingly, the "Old Republican Guard" did not approve of the brash
and bold Paul, who has thrown down his gauntlet in defiance of their
wishes. In the hours following Paul's filibuster, Sen. John McCain of
Arizona, who ran a losing campaign against Obama in 2008, lambasted
Paul, telling him that he needs to "calm down."

"The country needs more senators who care about liberty,
but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than
pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in
their college dorms. He needs to know what he's talking about," he said,
quoting from a Wall Street Journal piece.

He went on to
say he didn't "think that what happened yesterday was helpful to the
American people," and that Paul was giving "ammunition to those who say
the rules of the Senate are being abused" (under current Senate rule, by
the way, Paul's use of the filibuster was not only customary but
proper).

McCain was enjoined in his criticism by Sen. Lindsey
Graham of South Carolina. Following his dinner with Obama, he said of
Paul's filibuster: "This idea that we're going to use a drone to attack a
citizen in a cafe in America is ridiculous."

Memo to Graham: Until Paul shamed the administration into following the rule of law, that is precisely what the president you dined with was advocating.

Victory for Paul - and the Old Guard loses

In
the end, these two political cowards came out on the losing end.
Besides diminishing their status among the rank-and-file of their party,
Paul's efforts paid off: Hours after Paul left the Senate floor, Holder responded with a new letter to the Kentucky senator disavowing the right to kill Americans at home:

Does
the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an
American not engaged in combat on an American soil? The answer is no.

It's
not certain when the likes of McCain, Graham and the Old Guard GOP lost
their nerve to govern, but Paul's courage - and his resultant rise in
stature - appears set to lead a new breed of liberty-minded lawmakers in
a coup of sorts against them and other members of the establishment who
have grown far too accustomed Washington's business-as-usual attitude.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/039418_stand_with_Rand_citizens_liberty.html