Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 7

Opinion Uindsyjufy 22,2013 Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick at 307-266-0545. Send letters to the editor to letterstrib.com. A7 ICANTBEUEJE MS IHING 15 TAWN690L0N6 I ID GET OFF THE Dana MHbznk Michael Gerson Signs that a fever is breaking Rand Paul: Conviction politician What, us worry: or nearly a week, the Casper To this point, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has been the Republican flavor of the year. Events from the IRS scandal to NSA revelations to the Obamacare train wreck have corroborated libertarian suspicions of federal power.

And Paul has shown serious populist skills in cultivating those fears for his political benefit. For a while, he succeeded in a difficult maneuver: Accepting the inheritance of his father's movement while distancing himself from the loonier aspects of his father 's ideology. But now Rand Paul has fallen spectacularly off the tightrope. It turns out that a senior member of his Senate staff, Jack Hunter, has a history of neo-Confederate radio rants. And Paul has come to the defense of his aide.

Paul's attempt to dismiss the matter has only added to the damage. "It was a shock radio job," the senator explains He was doing wet T- shirt contests. But can a guy not have a youth and stuff? People try to say I smoked pot one time, and I wasn't fit for office." But Hunter's offenses were committed as an adult. They included defending a regime founded on slavery, comparing Abraham Lincoln to Saddam Hussein, and raising (in Hunter's words) a "personal toast every May 10 to celebrate John Wilkes Booth's birthday." This was not a single, ideological puff, but a decade spent mainlining moonlight and magnolias in the ruins ofTara. Rand Paul is rumored to be consid -ering a 2016 presidential run.

So his dismissal of the sympathetic treat -ment of a presidential assassin as the equivalent of sponsoring a wet T- shirt contest requires some explanation. The easier political course for Paul would have been to cut this embarrassing tie and reduce the damage. He may still be forced to do so. But Paul's reluctance is revealing. This would not be the first time that Paul has heard secessionist talk in his circle of confederates -1 mean, associates.

His father has attacked Lincoln for causing a "senseless" war and ruling with an "iron fist." Others allied with Paulism in various think tanks and websites have accused Lincoln of mass murder and treason. For Rand Paul to categorically repudiate such views and all who hold them would be to excommunicate a good portion of his father's movement. This disdain for Lincoln is not a quirk or a coincidence. Paulism involves more than the repeal of Obamacare. It is a form of libertarianism that categorically objects to 150 years of expanding federal power.

During this period, the main domestic justification for federal action has been opposition to slavery and segregation. Lincoln, in the Paulite view, exercised tyrannical powers to pursue an unnecessary war. Similarly, Paulites have been critical of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for violating both states' rights and individual property rights an argument Rand Paul himself echoed during several interviews as a Senate candidate. This does not make Paulites racists. But it does make them opponents of the legal methods that ended state-sanctioned racism.

To put the best construction on it, Paulites tend to hate war and federal coercion in any form, even in causes-, generally regarded as good. They opposed the Cold War and nearly every post -World War II American exercise of power. They equate the war on terrorism with militarism, imperialism and empire. And they remain unhappy about the War of Northern Aggression. Not all libertarians, of course, view Appomattox as a temporary setback.

A libertarian debate on the topic: "Lincoln: Hero or Despot?" would be two-sided, lively and well attended. But Paulism is more than the political expression of the Austrian school of economics. It is a wildly ambitious ideology in which Hunter's neo-Con-federate views are not uncommon. What does this mean for the GOP? It is a reminder that, however reas-suringhis manner, it is impossible for Rand Paul to join the Republican mainstream. The triumph of his ideas and movement would fundamentally shift the mainstream and demolish a century and a half of Republican political history.

The GOP could no longer be the party of Reagan's internationalism or of Lincoln's belief in a strong union dedicated to civil rights. Liz Cheney's Senate candidacy gives me hope. I'm not hopeful because I'd like the former vice president's daughter to become a senator, though my job would surely be more entertaining if she were to dislodge the unexciting incumbent, Sen. Mike Enzi, in Wyoming's Republican primary. What fills me with hope is the instant denunciation of her run by conservative Republicans.

Sen. John Barrasso, like Enzi a Cowboy State conservative, called Cheney's bid "the wrong race at the wrong time." Rep. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican who was an early member of the House Tea Party Caucus, called Cheney a "shiny new pony" and said Enzi "has done nothing to merit a primary challenge." Sen. Jerry Moran, who surfed the tea party wave to power in 2010 and now runs the Senate Republicans' 2014 campaign, said "our support will be there for Mike." Even Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

a tea party icon, mocked the recently trans -planted Cheney by saying he "wondered if she was running in her home state of Virginia." The race won't be about ideology (Enzi is as conservative as they come) but about temperament: Enzi is agreeable, and Cheney is "well, not. The opposition to her candidacy, particularly among Senate conservatives, is therefore an encouraging sign that the tea party fever may be breaking and the Senate may be recovering from its paralysis. The opposition to Cheney is one of several recent indications: On Tuesday, senators pulled back from a showdown over the filibuster, as Republicans agreed to approve several of President Obama's executive-branch nominees in exchange for a Democratic promise to preserve minority rights in the chamber. The confrontation shouldn't have been necessary, and the fix is limited and temporary. But the deal, brokered by Sen.

John McCain, shows that senators can pull back from the partisan brink in a time of (self-inflicted) crisis. On Wednesday, a group claiming four Democratic and four Republican senators announced that they had reached agreement on legislation for a press shield law protecting confidential sources. "It's another good gang that we've come up with," remarked Sen. Amy Ktobuchar, D-Minn. While the senators were announcing this bipartisan accord in the Senate TV studio, the House, by contrast, was kicking off yet another partisan debate on Obamacare, in which the policy was branded "socialist" and the president was accused of having "contempt for the Constitution." On Thursday, a different bipartisan group of senators announced that they had finalized an agreement on student loan legislation, offering an end to the standoff between the White House and House Republicans that had caused a sharp increase in loan rates.

As a result of these and other developments, the Senate is more orderly and governable than the House. Traditionally, the House, which gives the minority party little power, is the more efficient, and the Senate, which relies on unanimous consent and protects minority rights, is where legislation goes to die. But lately, as Chuck Babington noted last week, "the Senate makes legislating look almost easy compared to the House." That's because Republican House leaders have been trying to pass legislation without Democratic votes. This, in turn, gives conservatives power to kill just about everything. The Senate, for example, passed the farm bfJl with a two-thirds majority.

But a similar bill at first failed in the House and passed only after Republican leaders took the extraordinary step of removing the food-stamp program in their bill. The immigration legislation, likewise, cleared the Senate, 68-32, but is stuck in the House because of conservatives' objections. It would be too wishful to think the Senate has overcome its dysfunction. That won't happen as long as the Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell remain majority and minority leaders. Nor will it happen as long as Republican senators are afraid of primary challenges if they cross hotheaded colleagues such as Ted Cruz of Texas.

But the defense of Enzi suggests recovery is possible. school. We can't necessarily blame students for thinking there's big money to be made by dropping out. In many cases, there are jobs that pay well because of the physical demands and the number of hours. But there's only so many years a body can endure tough physical labor.

And, there's a definite ceiling to earning potential. But how would a 16-year-old or 17-year-old know that? That's why the problem is bigger than just a seemingly dysfunctional state education system. In many respects, the issue isn't just one for lawmakers or local school boards. The issue is one for communities. First, school districts across the state must continue to build programs which target at-risk students whose talents may be curbed by learning disabilities or those who fit well with non-traditional programs.

Going to work in the oilfield or mines is good work but all workers should have education to lean back upon. Secondly, communities have to focus on parents. We have to emphasize the importance of learning and school at home. Whether that's encouraging reading habits at home, or whether it's pushing children for more academic success, leaders can't just assume it's an individual choice or that the school districts will be able to convince students they should stay in school. Third, Wyoming leaders must recognize that if we are to diversify our economy beyond energy, we must have strong schools.

Strong schools with high academic achievement can be among the most powerful recruiting tools a community can have. And, competition for qualified, quality workers will continue to be an issue. So, if our work force can't compete, Wyoming won't be able to either. And that would be everyone's problem. If we want to solve the graduation gap, everyone must be invested in the solution.

It's not only the parents. It's not just the teachers. All of us. Star -Tribune tackled the story of graduation and Wyoming's relatively high dropout rate. The series spotlighted several key aspects of graduation and dropouts, including plentiful, decent -paying jobs; paradoxically, poverty; substance abuse; teen pregnancy; and the culture of education in general.

There is a problem. And the temptation is to say that problem is simply that graduation rates are too low and leave it at that. But that's not the real problem. Leaders, educators and most residents look at the sagging graduation numbers and sigh. It's a problem, we all say, but it's always seemed the graduation rates were low.

The problem is that it's not enough of a problem. Wyoming hasn't seemed to pay much of a price for the lack of education. The energy industry has always been willing to take dropouts as long as they can do the back-breaking, 'round-the-clock work. Until they can't anymore. The truth is that it will take more than throwing obscene amounts of money at the problem.

And while we respect that leaders say Wyoming's graduation is unacceptable, to some degree they're not the ones in need of education or graduation. The problem boils down to this: As long as parents and friends don't insist and preach the value of education, students will continue to drop out at an above -average rate. Simply put, children live what they learn. Sadly, Wyoming may not be equipping the next generation well enough. Parents, who undoubtedly want better for their children, have to make sure their children's grades are not falling.

They have to push them to stay in school. They have reinforce the message that a college education, or even some technical training after high school, will mean higher paychecks throughout life -not just good pay now. We don't hear leaders and parents talk enough about the value of tarTnbune Jhvotj Rigleftanj, ten Brtc, editor Rot GuMag. managing editor ftwtd Wintry, assistant managing efttor tor tramngandonine managing editor far news SjflyAjiStiunnur, community new editor Sum AnriMM. txisiness editor OTStUne.FB8ai.Wy82604:307-Z66!OTa855M583 The Casper Star Est ti 1941.