Rand Paul: “the last 2 weeks have been tough for all Americans. The best we can say is that the events have rallied the American…”

“the last 2 weeks have been tough for all Americans. The best we can say is that the events have rallied the American spirit of shared love and generosity. Partisanship was put on hold as it well should have been. We now, as a free people, must deal with this tragedy in the best way possible. Punishment and prevention is mandatory. We must not, however, sacrifice our liberties at the hand of an irrational urgency. Calm deliberation in our effort to restore normalcy is crucial. Cries for dropping nuclear bombs on an enemy not yet identified cannot possibly help in achieving this goal. Mr. Speaker, I returned to Congress 5 years ago out of deep concern about our foreign policy of international interventionism and a monetary and fiscal policy, I believe, would lead to a financial and dollar crisis. Over the past 5 years, I have frequently expressed my views on these issues and why I believe our policies should be changed. This deep concern prompted me to seek and receive seats on the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on International Relations. I sought to thwart some of the dangers I saw coming, but as the horrific attacks shows, these efforts were to no avail. As concerned as I was, the enormity of the two-pronged crisis that we now face came with a ferocity no one ever wanted to imagine. Now we must deal with what we have and do our best to restore our country to a more normal status. I do not believe this can happen if we ignore the truth.…”