Rand Paul receives a warm welcome at Berkeley

 It is no secret that young voters tend to vote Democratic, so it is very interesting to note that when Rand Paul ventured into what conservatives usually feel is the belly of the beast–namely the universities–that he received a warm reception.

Nobody should be surprised that Rand Paul got so warm a welcome Wednesday, even in a city whose name is often preceded in conversation by “The People’s Republic of…”

After all, the junior U.S. Senator from Kentucky and likely contender for 2016’s Republican presidential nomination is following in his father’s footsteps by drawing crowds of enthusiastic young followers, particularly on college campuses, wherever he goes.

  So why is it that Rand Paul is succeeding where most Republicans usually fail? It is because he has found an issue which is near and dear to the heart of young people and that, among other things, is privacy.

And his policies — particularly criticizing government surveillance programs, noninterventionist foreign policy, and rethinking the war on drugs — draw voters from across the spectrum, including some of Berkeley’s famed lefties

“He’s a serious contender,” said Bruce Cain, a political expert who directs Stanford University’s Bill Lane Center for the American West. “He can come to the Bay Area and plausibly look for money, which is not the case with Sarah Palin or some of the other people on the right.”

In a speech peppered with references to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” Paul told a crowd of about 400 that he will call for creation of a bipartisan select committee to probe and reform the intelligence community, much like the Church Committee of the 1970s: “It should watch the watchers.”

“Your rights, especially your right to privacy, are under assault,” he said, noting the National Security Agency has said its surveillance programs treat lawmakers like any other Americans. “Digest exactly what that means. If Congress is spied upon without their permission, who exactly is in charge of the government?”

  In an age where the younger generation is enthralled by social media this is a winning issue for Rand Paul and it is an issue in which is he really the lone voice in the wilderness. For while most of the Republicans are paying lip service to governmental spying, while doing nothing substantial to stop it, he is the one person on either side of the aisle who seems to be legitimately concerned about this Constitutional over-reach and usurpation.

  If Rand Paul can win over the youth group it will deal a serious blow to Hillary Clinton, who should be seen by most as part of the establishment and therefore part of the problem, and I believe at this point in time that he is the only Republican candidate which even holds an inkling of even the possibility of defeating the woman who by most accounts will be the Democratic nominee for president.