Rand Paul: Opening Cuba Trade ‘Good Idea’

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) took a different take on the recent shifts in the US’ policy towards Cuba than fellow Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying that opening trade with Cuba was “a good idea” during an interview on Huntington, WV station WVHU’s “The Tom Roten Morning Show” on Thursday.

“I grew up in a family that was about as anti-Communist as you could come by…when we first opened up trade with China we were thinking it was a bad idea, but, you know, over time, I’ve come to believe, and many conservatives have come to believe, that trading with China is the best way to actually, ultimately defeat Communism, and it makes us less likely to fight. The 50 year embargo with Cuba just hasn’t worked, I mean, if the goal was regime change, sure doesn’t seem to be working, and probably, it punishes the people more than the regime, cause the regime can blame the embargo for hardship. And if there’s open trade, I think the people will see what it’s like to–all the things that we produce under capitalism, so, in the end I think probably opening up Cuba is a good idea” he stated.

Paul also criticized the cromnibus bill as a “crummy way, really, to run government,” and while he said that “we’ll see” if Congress defunds President Obama’s executive action on immigration, “without question, every Republican I’ve talked to wants to put and attach strings to all of the spending so the president is reigned in from his lawless behavior.”

On Obamacare, Paul argued that while the president will not repeal the bill, the GOP Congress could get him to go along with certain fixes to the law, such as lessening penalties under the law.

Paul also expressed his opposition to Common Core, declaring that education should be localized and not controlled by Washington.

Regarding Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential run, Paul stated “the more the merrier, the party’s a big party, I think we can have moderates in the party, we can have conservatives in the party.”

(h/t The Hill)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett