Rand Paul On The Federal Government: ‘Shut The Damn Thing Down’

Speaking at the American Spectator Gala in Washington D.C. last night, Sen. Rand Paul delighted the crowd with a strong anti-government speech.

He began with a defense of the government shutdown in 2013, pointing out that many Americans in “fly-over country” didn’t really care, and only a third of government was shut down at the time.

Paul blamed Obama for shutting down national parks and national monuments to raise public concern, praising World War II veterans for ignoring the barriers placed in front of their monument in Washington D.C.

“I tell people who don’t understand America, don’t understand that we need to shut the damn thing down, I tell people the image you need to remember is when the World War II veterans got off their bus, took their wire cutters, cut the barricades, and threw them on the lawn,” he said.

Paul and his wife Kelly attended the annual gala, seated at the same table as David Koch, one of the two billionaire brothers who serve as philanthropists for conservative ideas.

After highlighting more incidents of mismanaged government spending, Paul pointed out that leaders in Washington D.C. can not be trusted to properly run the country.

“Everything in Washington is broken, nothing works here,” he said. “We can’t run the post office, we are not to be trusted with money. Congress is not good with money, we shouldn’t be trusted with almost any responsibility up here. Most of government should be shut down and devolved and sent back to the states.”

Paul criticized Obama for his “usurpation of power” pointing to a “collapse” of the separation of powers and the checks and balances enshrined by the Constitution.

“The Constitution isn’t about restraining you, it’s about restraining government,” he said as the crowd applauded.