Dr. Rand Paul’s Op-Eds

When I ran for office, I promised to read the bills. Apparently, that is not a requirement for Courier Journal columnists. Had The Courier read the anti-lynching bill and listened to the floor debate before launching into an ad hominem attack on me,  they might have...

In 2015, I filibustered reauthorization of the Patriot Act. My filibuster was not popular with other senators because it kept them in Washington over a Memorial Day weekend. I still remember one or two hotheads muttering and directing profanity under their breath. I...

In 1988, a certain congressman from Texas ran for president on a platform of bringing home our troops from around the world. Even then, more than 30 years ago, U.S. troops were in over 100 countries, and tens of thousands were still in Europe.That Texas congressman...

As we face the pandemic's many challenges, Americans are stepping up and working together to help equip our medical professionals with the masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) they need on the front lines of the fight.President Trump said on...

What if I had told you a month ago that some sort of contagion would be unleashed upon our country that would cause 20 million people to lose their jobs and for us to go $6 trillion further into debt?Many pundits would have likely responded, "That's crazy. It could...

The coronavirus pandemic is testing the American workforce in ways no one has ever seen. According to some estimates, the heavy-handed stay-at-home orders imposed in many states could lead to unemployment rates on par with the Great Depression before the end of...

I did not quarantine while awaiting a coronavirus test because I did not meet the criteria for quarantine. In fact, I did not meet the current criteria for even being tested, much less quarantined.I have not had an encounter with anyone that health officials...

Did you know that the bipartisan coronavirus bailout bill will provide nearly everybody in my family with a check? And I'm not poor. I'm a United States senator.As a member of the Senate, I think it's an abomination for the government to send checks to U.S....

As a physician, I understand the need for an "all hands on deck" response from our medical community to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. That means speedy access to diagnostic testing and medical supplies, and, most importantly, it means preparedness to care for every...

It is important to approach the current Coronavirus pandemic with equal measures of prudence and hope. Practical solutions to stop the spread of a novel disease are not new. They have worked in the past, and they do not need to lead to fear or panic. In fact, looking...

This weekend, the Senate will likely vote on Phase 3 of the federal coronavirus response. As they do so, I urge aggressive but prudent actions.As a physician, we learn early and take an oath to "do no harm." This is an important principle to apply to both the medical...

In 1964, Ronald Reagan famously observed that "[n]o government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So governments' programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth." Each...

The American people have seen a grand charade on display in Washington.First, the circus toured the U.S. House for weeks, and now the sideshow has stopped over in the U.S. Senate. Democrats have accused President Donald Trump of using the government to go after his...

On a rainy Monday night at Dover Air Force Base last week, I joined President Trump for the final homecoming of Sgt. First Class Javier J. Gutierrez and Sgt. First Class Antonio R. Rodriguez, who gave their lives the prior weekend in Afghanistan.I will never forget...

Sometimes the hypocrisy in Washington is so bad it is almost laughable. The House impeachment witch hunt reached that level this week with the revelations that Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., had acquired and published personal phone records of...

While you often hear me sounding the alarm over our country's national deficit, that's not the only debt in need of serious attention. In the last decade, U.S. student loan debt has skyrocketed to its highest ever at $1.6 trillion, with the average 2018 college...

When will it end? Ever since Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 presidential election, Democrats have been on a mission to reverse those results, even though it's meant dragging the country through one desperate witch hunt after another. Now we turn the...

President Trump did the wise thing by moving 50 soldiers out of the way of tens of thousands of invading Turks. There can be no doubt that the situation in Northern Syria involving Turkey, the Kurds, and Syria is messy, complicated, and potentially costly. The only...

Isn't all foreign aid supposed to be quid pro quo? We give you this aid - on the expectation that you will not steal any of it for personal use, that you will spend it as we instruct, and on the understanding that if you don't spend the money as we command, you won't...

President Donald Trump campaigned on a very specific foreign policy. "America First" has its roots in the less-interventionist policies of our Founding Fathers. Then-candidate Trump said often that the Iraq War was a mistake, and that we were in too many places for...