Rand’s father, Ron Paul, became well-known for speaking out in favor of sound money, civil liberties and non-interventionist foreign policy. Ron Paul’s views seem to straddle libertarian and conservative philosophies.

Rand Paul has entered the U.S. Senate race as a Republican, calling himself a constitutional conservative. He emphasizes issues that are of concern to conservatives, such as taxes, spending, national debt and transparency.

The challenge that Rand faces is that many traditional conservatives will continue to associate Rand with elements of libertarianism that they consider extreme.

Government Spending and National Debt

Just a couple years ago, the national debt was $5 trillion. Now it’s close to $12 trillion. Is that a lot? Well, in recent years there have been plenty of people, including some conservatives, who say that this debt is still manageable, because as a percentage of GDP, it is still not as high as it was during WWII. However, we are quickly getting to that level, and analysis shows that we are on a trajectory that could quickly get out of control, and entitlement spending will soon drive government spending to an unsustainable level.

Total Debt Market

Government debt is only part of the total debt in the market. What does the total debt market look like? Well, I decided to get the data myself. I pulled numbers from a Federal Reserve report, plotted the graph, and this is the result:

From this chart, we learn that the national debt is huge, but some other sectors are even more massive. Our economy is obsessed with debt at every level, from government to consumers to homebuyers. Is this sustainable? Take a look at this chart, and tell me what you think:

I believe the economic downturn is actually a contraction of massive scale. We have become so accustomed to debt at every level, that now our economy depends on it to function. Isn’t it interesting and ironic that the goal of the economic stimulus is to restore the credit markets and get lending going again?

Check out this video I made, entitled “How Much is a Trillion?”

Rand has taken a “no pork” pledge with the Citizens Against Government Waste not to earmark. He says that while earmarks are a small portion of the budget, they are associated with pork barrel spending and lead to an “errand boy” mindset among politicians.