Sen. Rand Paul: Privacy Is A Real Concern For Most Americans
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Senator Rand Paul told Talk Radio 1210 WPHT midday host Dom Giordano that most of America agrees with him when it comes to privacy concerns.
"Inside the Beltway, I'm very unpopular. I'm maybe the least popular person in Washington right now, but once I leave the Beltway and I get out and I visit voters in New Hampshire, or Kentucky or Iowa or wherever I go, South Carolina, we have hundreds of people who show up to every event and to a person, they think the government has gone too far. They don't trust the President with their information and frankly, they don't trust any president. If you interview people under 40, 83% of them in a recent survey said that the government has gone too far in collecting our records."
He feels that at least half of the other Republican candidates for president disagree with the 83% of people in that survey, and they are in turn "out of touch."
"They're welcome to have that opinion. They're welcome to viciously attack me, but in the end, I think the position that I've taken is the correct one with regards to the 4th Amendment, but I think it's also the one that ultimately, the American people will rally around."
Paul also spoke about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement should not be classified.
"I see no reason why a trade agreement would be classified. In fact, the act of classifying it really ends up, I think, damaging their public relations to such an extent that all of America should demand that we see it now, because if you're making something secret it makes it seem as if the government has something to hide."
Paul feels that it's a big mistake not to let the American people read the bills before they are voted on. This would also give him and other elected officials more than enough time to analyze exactly what is in these bills, something that he does not feel currently exists.
"Now, I did go through it with two staff members, it's 800 pages, and we weren't able to find anything explicit, but it's difficult to read and understand something in an hour or two because you have to refer to the Federal Register, which is hundreds of thousands pages long, sometimes, to figure out exactly what's in it."