What do North Carolina Senator Kay Hagen and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul have in common? They are both rooting for the same guy, Greg Bannon, to win the GOP primary in North Carolina today. The winner of that primary will face Hagen in November and she would like nothing better than to face Bannon, a Tea Party champion who holds extreme views on any number of issues. Sen. Paul no doubt has his eyes on the GOP presidential primary in 2016 and the power of the Tea Party to get behind his campaign. But, this quote of Paul's from a rally over the weekend is the kind of thing that makes one nervous. He said, "The status quo has gotten too strong in Washington, D.C. The Leviathan has gotten too large. … As we stand here, the debt clock is spiraling out of control. Send us a champion. Send us a hero. Send us a dragon slayer." Now, I admit that at one point in my life, I gave counsel to myself and others never to date anyone who could not use the adjective "Hobbesian" in a sentence. But, to hear Sen. Paul refer to the U.S. government as "the Leviathan" is disturbing and not just to us Catholics who have a less negative understanding of the vocation of politics and government. It is disturbing because in almost every way that matters, there is little resemblance between today's U.S. government and either regime in the English Civil War. There is something essentially sophomoric about these libertarians and Sen. Paul displays that quality in spades. Politico has the story here.
