Look, I think we are at war and that means enemy combatants on US soil, regardless of their original citizenship can be targeted as soldiers in a war. Rand Paul invoking the 5th Amendment for enemy combatants is batty to me.

However, he is espousing some pretty interesting old ideas that Republicans ought to consider again. It is interesting to note that he is discussing a return to Lochner and an end to state’s rights. Republicans have been fond of pushing state’s rights for a long time, but it was not always the party’s concern.

Rand is talking about a limited government and that is not majority rule. We need to reassert the idea that we are a Republic and not a democracy. That simple majority rule can become tyranny of the majority and, in fact, simple majority and state’s rights might push us to large state governments.

Critics of “obstructionism” are not wrong when they say the filibuster is not democratic. The answer is not that Democrats have used the filibuster too. The answer is that we are not a democracy so the filibuster not being democratic is not a relevant critique.

I enjoy federalism. I think government should be as local as possible. However, we have to set broad limits of what government at any level can do to restrict freedom.

Rand’s filibuster talk is not dicta. There are ideas here worth talking about and I hope it is not lost in the drone business.