Rand Paul tells Iowans he’s the candidate of liberty

In a half-hour speech to a raucus campus crowd, Sen. Rand Paul quoted Albert Einstein, Victor Hugo, Harper Lee and his father.

Each time, he put the lines into the service of his contention that American liberties exist under fire from big government. And he said his fellow Republicans shared nearly equal responsibility with Democrats.

The libertarian from Kentucky, drawing many of the same unconventional Republicans who rallied for his father, Ron Paul, argued for a smaller government that meddles in people’s lives less.

“We must fight to restrain Big Brother,” he said to hoots from about 200 people who came for his mid-afternoon appearance at Drake University. “Will you stand together against the rising excess of government.”

Then he ran through one issue after the next where he thinks government needs to curb its powers: less tracking of cellphone records; scaled back enforcement of drug laws, especially where African-Americans experience disproportionate prosecution; elimination of the Federal Reserve Bank; and a smaller military.

“On the right, the call is for enlarging the military state,” Paul said. “On the left, the call is for enlarging the welfare state.”

He cited the political reaction to a mass shooting late last year in San Bernardino, Calif., by a radicalized Islamic couple and how that prompted Donald Trump to bar Muslims entry to country.

“The left calls for more gun control,” he said. “The right calls for more people control.”

Paul has struggled in the polls throughout the pre-voting phase of the campaign, often drawing too little support to qualify for prime time debates.

On Thursday, however, he was set to be on the big stage with six others in the top tier. Donald Trump, the frontrunner, was skipping out over a fight with the Fox News Channel.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Rand Paul tells Iowans he’s the candidate of liberty."