Rand Paul advocates for smaller government, less taxes during Corbin forum

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul spoke at Bubby’s BBQ in Corbin Tuesday during a town hall style forum.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is facing a challenge from Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, was in Corbin Tuesday, meeting with supporters at Bubby’s Barbecue.

Paul, who is seeking his second term in the Senate following his failed presidential bid, spent more than an hour meeting with and taking questions from area residents as part of a three-stop swing through southeastern Kentucky.

In his remarks, Paul continued to tout his desire to shrink the size of the federal government and the spending that goes with it and lower taxes across the board.

Paul took a shot at both Republicans and Democrats, noting that under President George W. Bush, the budget deficit doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. Paul added that under President Barack Obama, the deficit has doubled again from $10 trillion to $20 trillion.

“We’ve got a real problem,” Paul said.

“We are borrowing a million dollars a minute. Ultimately, it is an anvil that we are dragging around.”

Paul said he is regularly questioned about what the government can do to spur job growth.

“We have got to have more money left in the community,” Paul said, in explaining why he wants to cut taxes.

“Lower the taxes for Bubby’s,” Paul said offering the restaurant up as an example. “What will they do? Well, they will hire more people.”

“How do businesses thrive?” Paul asked. “Well, you have got to leave more money in the communities.”

Paul said there is a trade-off in that to cut spending, you have to cut the size of the government bureaucracy.

Paul added that the government has grown so much and is involved in so many aspects of people’s lives that it is out of control.

One area that Paul pointed to was interest rates. Paul noted that the government has suppressed interest rates, which have been hovering around 3 or 4 percent, in an effort to spur the housing market.

At the same time, Paul explained that the interest rate serves as a barometer for consumers.

While lower interest rates may make the purchase of a new house or new car more appealing, it may provide a false sense of security for prospective buyers.

“We have this danger of getting overwhelmed or overextended such as what happened in 2007 and 2008,” Paul said. “We are just sort of recovering from that.”

Paul pointed to the counties east of Corbin that have been hit hardest by the decline in the coal industry and are suffering from unemployment rates that are twice of other areas of the state.

“You wonder, how did this happen? Was it just an accident?” Paul asked. “Did the coal industry just accidently shut down? No, it happened because people purposely did it.”

Paul laid the blame squarely at the feet of President Obama, who he said had set out to bankrupt the coal industry.

“’We will bankrupt coal.’ He (Obama) literally said those exact words,” Paul said. “And they’re on their way to doing it.”

While referring to him as, “my opponent,” Paul said Gray is going around eastern Kentucky talking about how he will help the coal industry.

“After they put it out of business? Paul asked. “What are they going to do? Offer us welfare?”

Paul added that he has met with many people who make their living in the coal industry and said they are proud of their work and simply want to continue working.

Paul said that is the case for the vast majority of the people who are currently on government assistance.

Paul said the American dream of working hard and being successful is still possible. It is just a matter of giving more people the opportunity to live it.

“What we need to do is grow the economy,” Paul said. “We need to grow it larger and larger so that there are millions of jobs available.”

Paul said the rate of growth is about 1 percent.

“The difference between 1 percent and 3 percent is probably about two million jobs a year,” Paul said. “But we are not growing because we have this enormous government that is dragging us down. We have this enormous government that has gotten in the way of the coal industry.”

Paul said unlike what the founders had envisioned with the three parts of the government being equal, the presidency has become much more powerful.

“In fact, Congress has become almost inconsequential because everything they are doing to you is through regulation,” Paul said.

Paul pointed to the Affordable Care Act, which he said has more than 180 places that say, “The Secretary of Health shall decide at a later date.”

Paul also discussed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2010.

While the intention was to regulate the larger banks, Paul said the regulations have had a debilitating effect on the small community banks as well.

“Small business are being squelched by regulations that the big businesses can absorb,” Paul said.

“We’ve got to push back,” Paul said. “We’ve got to do more.”

Paul said he understands those who ask why Congress doesn’t use its power to fund or not fund certain programs and agencies to stop the regulators.

“We do need to defund them,” Paul said. “We also have to write legislation that has less loopholes in it.”

Paul pointed to Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that the Constitution is not about limiting the power of the people, but rather designed to limit the power of the government.

Paul noted that as the size and scope of government increases, the liberty of the people decreases.

“There should always be a liberty argument that you want to keep government small,” Paul said.

Paul said the second reason for wanting a smaller government is because a larger government is by its very nature less efficient.

“The problem with government and people in government is that it is not their money,” Paul said. “So they inevitably don’t make very good decisions. And that is why government is inherently inefficient.”

Paul said one of the things he has proposed to give an incentive for the government and its employees to be more efficient is what he calls “Bonuses for Cost Cutters.”

The bill would give bonuses to every federal employee that saves the government money.

“Right now, we have the opposite,” Paul said. “Its called ‘Use it or lose it.’”

“The money in the last month of the fiscal year is spent five times faster than any other month,” Paul noted.

“This is a problem,” Paul said. “You need to have an incentive for government workers to save money.”

Paul said the United States provides religious, individual, and economic liberty.

“All of that provides a great foundation for our country,” Paul said.

“We can’t forget what made us great. What made us great was keeping our government small and keeping your liberty large,” Paul said. “I’m going to keep fighting for that.”

Among the crowd was JP Kirby, a student at the University of the Cumberlands.

Kirby said he is supporting Paul because of his support for the U.S. Constitution and his belief in liberty.

“Senator Paul’s defense of the second, first and fourth amendments are really far and above anyone else in Congress that I see on either side,” Kirby said.

Kirby said when he voices his support for Paul and other conservatives, he is met with questions of how he can possibly do that and accusations of being heartless.

“I think it is a sense of how you view things. Do you believe the government is the final authority on who gets what and who are the people on the need and who does need to be given to, who needs to be taken from? Or do you believe liberty and individual choice is the best way for needs to be met and for the market and individual charitable giving being the most effective way to distribute things to those in need?” Kirby said.