This is How a Sellout Politician Votes

Ok so I tried to give Rand a break.

The other day, he said something informative about the evil Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans Pacific Partnership.

I featured Breitbart's Rand comments at EPJ. Rand noted that the details of the agreement  were kept in secret in a locked room and were about 800 pages long.

Breitbart wrote in its report (my bold):

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)—an opponent of the secretive Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would fast-track the Pacific Rim trade deal Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)—went inside the secret room inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday morning to read the TPP text and told Breitbart News exclusively afterwards that he believes President Barack Obama should make it public now. 

The deal’s text is kept in a room behind double doors that each have signs: “No Public Or Media Beyond This Point.”

So what did Rand do Thursday? He voted "yea' on the key legislation that will allow TPP, TTIP, and TISA — to become law.

Here's Washington's Blog explaining what went down:

The key vote, in the U.S. Senate, to transfer to international corporate panels America’s democratic national sovereignty over the laws and regulations on the environment, workers’ rights, consumers’ rights, and finance, was officially titled with the misleadingly unrelated phrase “Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act,” and it passed the U.S. Senate as “H.R. 1314,” by 65 to 33 votes, at 1:55 in the afternoon of Thursday 14 May 2015. 

That’s five votes more than the 60 votes that the measure needed in order to pass. This is the key congressional action among the many that are required in order for U.S. President Barack Obama’s international-‘trade’ treaties — TPP, TTIP, and TISA — to become law in the United States. It’s the ultimate decision-moment, concerning America’s future.

Keep this in mind: Rand promotes himself as a Constitutionalist, who sees a limited role for the Federal government and that  laws and regulations should be the made and enforced at the individual state level, if it involves areas that are specifically enunciated in the Constitution as areas that the Federal government should play a role in. Just where the hell does he come off voting in favor of workers’ "rights," consumers’ "rights," and finance  to be determined, ruled and regulated by a supranational body?

This leads to my point about Rand: He is an establishment man, who can not be trusted to vote on any issue in a libertarian, or even free market manner

Hell. his buddies at Breitbart got it wrong about him on TPP.

The TPP vote was close. The establishment needed Rand's vote. He gave it to them. 800 secret pages are now part of the rules that you must live by. Rules that will be interpreted and massaged by the elitist, crony, establishment. Support Rand and you are supporting establishment voting, when it needs your vote.

 -RW

UPDATE

Here is further information on the vote, since I see Rand agents attempting to play the vote off as no big deal.

This was a procedural vote that provides an edge to Obama. It  will help him get TPP passed. 

This is how Bloomberg reported on the ramifications of the vote:

Senate Advances Bill to Give Obama Trade Negotiating Power

The U.S. Senate advanced a measure allowing President Barack Obama to expedite approval of trade agreements...

The Guardian reported the story this way:

The US Senate moved ahead with an important procedural vote to allow President Barack Obama to “fast-track” a controversial free trade deal on Thursday.

By a vote of 65-33, the Senate voted to start debate on a bill that would allow Obama to submit the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to Congress on an up-or-down vote. The trade agreement is a key priority of the Obama administration.

The vote comes after a previous attempt to clear this procedural hurdle failed on Tuesday after Democrats expressed concern that the TPP would cause the United States to lose more manufacturing jobs.

Democrats fully understood that this procedural vote was a big step toward advancing TPP. It was so important that Democrats failed ti stay in line with their president on the vote.

The Guardian adds:

 The debate over trade has become one of the rare intra-Democratic Party fights of the Obama era...he has run strong into opposition on the TPP from liberal icon Elizabeth Warren as well as the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid.

Here's how PBS reported the vote:

the Republican-controlled Senate put President Barack Obama’s trade agenda back on course Thursday, clearing the way for likely approval within days of legislation allowing the administration to negotiate global deals that Congress could support or reject but not change.
The 65-33 vote to resurrect the measure capped two days of political intrigue in which Democrats on both sides of the legislation initially joined forces to block action, then reached agreement with Republicans for votes on other enforcement measures to protect workers who lose jobs as a result of exports.

The White House swiftly hailed the vote, saying the bill’s passage would lead to “high-standard trade agreements that are good for the U.S. economy, businesses, farmers, innovators and workers, and would extend and enhance” aid for workers harmed by trade.

 Like I said, you can always count on Rand, when the crony establishment needs a vote. Don't let any Rand apologists feed you the BS that this was a vote to "open debate," as though this was some heroic thing. It was a vote to get a vote on TPP.. Obama understands, Warren and Reid understand this and Rand damn well know what he did.