Where do we go from here?

Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and the United States Constitution
While the GOP determines its core values the essence of its options moving forward couldn’t be more wonderfully distilled than in the voting records of two high-profile Republicans, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

As The American Spectator’s Jim Antle pointed out Rubio and Paul have followed similar paths to prominence. Both were discouraged from running for the Senate by party leaders. Both rode Tea Party support to unexpected primary victories. In Washington, both have defined themselves as stringent government-cutters but closer inspection of their records reveals two different views of government.  One is a Conservative in the tradition of Jefferson and Locke and tends to vote in a manner which conserves the ideals of our founders.  The other is more of a Conservative in the tradition of Hamilton and Hobbes and tends to conserve the status quo. 

To help us understand their conflicting ideas of the role of government I offer the following.

1. Authority for Military Action
In response to President Obama undertaking U.S. military action in Libya without congressional authorization Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) moved to insert an amendment into S.493 that "the President does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Rand Paul voted Yes (against)                              Marco Rubio voted No

2. Patriot Act
During consideration of the Patriot Act extension bill (S.990), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment that would have banned the use of Patrtiot Act searches for American citizen' firearms records without the Fourth Amendment's protections of probable cause.

Rand Paul voted No                                               Marco Rubio abstained

3. Trade Promotion Authority
During consideration of the trade preferences bill, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced an amendment to reinstate trade promotion authority through 2013 for the purpose of expiditing approval of trade bills.  The bill would limit the ability of Congress to deliberate and legislate. Moreover, treaties should need a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate for approval.

Rand Paul voted No                                               Marco Rubio voted Yes

4. Indefinite Detention
Detainee related language in the Defense authorization bill (S. 1867) was written in such a sweeping way that even the United States can be considered part of the battlfield in the global war against terror - and even American citizens accused of being terrorists can be appprehended by the U.S. military, detained indefinitely without habeas corpus and without even being tried and found guilty in a court of law.

Rand Paul voted No                                              Marco Rubio voted Yes

5. Keystone XL Pipeline
During consideration of S. 1813, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) offered an amendment to open up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas development, expand lease sales for offshore drilling, and approve the Keystone oil pipeline.  At question here was should the federal goverment allow entrepreneurs to develop energy resource, rather than deny access to the resources?

Rand Paul voted Yes                                            Marco Rubio voted No

6. FDA Regulation of Food & Dietary Supplements
During consideration of the FDA user-fee authorization bil (S. 3187), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment to prohibit FDA from regulating food and dietary supplements as drugs and censoring product claims as a violation of the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment, and because the federal government is using armed agents to enforce unconstitutional regulations - e.g. against the selling of raw milk.

Rand Paul voted Yes (for the amendment)           Marco Rubio voted No

7.  Cybersecurity
The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (S. 3414) would create a National Cybersecurity Council under the chairmanship of Homeland Security.  The council would provide "voluntary" standards - with incentives for compliance - for owners of critical computer networks.  If passed, private owners of critical infrastructure who are already heavily regulated would be further burdened with additional supposedly voluntary regulations in the name of cybersecurity.

Rand Paul voted No                                             Marco Rubio abstained

9. Internet Freedom
PIPA (Prevent Online Privacy Act) was a proposed law, Co-Sponsored by Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to the sale of infringing or counterfeit goods".  The bill was opposed by Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Wikipedia. A letter of opposition was signed by 130 technology entrepreneurs and executives and sent to Congress to express their concern that the law in its present form would "hurt economic growth and chill innovation in legitimate services that help people create, communicate, and make money online".

Rand Paul voted No                                            Marco Rubio flipped under pressure

9.  Sugar Subsidies
Americans currently pay more than 36 cents for a pound of sugar, more than 50 percent above the world price. The sugar program not only redistributes tax dollars to sugar corporations but also hurts U.S. small businesses and industries that use sugar in their final products, such as bakeries, family restaurants, cereal companies, and confectioners.  H.R. 1739 sponsored by Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) would have ended sugar subsidies and open the sugar market to competition.

Rand Paul voted Yes-remove subsidies             Marco Rubio voted No

10. Eligible to be President

U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 5
"No person execpt a natural born citizen . . . shall be eligible to the office of President." 
Senator Rubio's parents were not born in the United States.

Rand Paul - Eligible                                             Marco Rubio - Not eligible.

Principles matter.  Economics tells us that the best intentions of reformers will fail no matter how well intentioned or how well they are carried out if they violate natural law.

Eric Andersen is a newly elected San Diego Republican Central Committee member, Co-founder of im2moro.com and Co-founder of the San Diego Republican Liberty Caucus.

Source: The New American: Voting Index