The Brutal Buzz by Indie: There Is An Epidemic Of Republicans Plagiarizing From Rand Paul

Saturday, April 19, 2014

There Is An Epidemic Of Republicans Plagiarizing From Rand Paul

Eight Republican candidates have literally copied and pasted from Rand Paul’s “issues” page.

Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press / MCT

Sen. Rand Paul's libertarian vision for the Republican Party future has such broad appeal that a generation of Republican candidates is copying his platform — and in many cases, literally copying and pasting it on to their own websites.

Republican Senate, U.S. Congressional, and state legislative candidates around the country have plagiarized from the Kentucky senator, BuzzFeed has found. The group includes two candidates with a serious shot at entering the U.S. Senate next year, Oklahoma's T.W. Shannon and North Carolina's Greg Brannon.

Paul himself faced questions earlier this year for plagiarizing sections of campaign speeches from Wikipedia and other sources. But while he may have been sloppy, the other candidates are systematic, and their source of choice offers a glimpse into a Republican Party in which the Paul family's radical libertarianism is rapidly entering the mainstream.

Paul isn't the only libertarian who's a popular target for copy and pasters. BuzzFeed previously reported that David Clements, a Republican candidate for Senate in New Mexico, and Brannon both plagiarized their "on the issues" pages from libertarian Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash.

Clements' campaign expressed "regret" at copying Amash.

Brannon's campaign did not respond to a BuzzFeed request for comment about copying Amash but told North Carolina radio station WFAE the plagiarism was "old news" and, "I would hope that WFAE holds themselves at a higher standard than some of the ridiculous stuff that comes out of Buzzfeed."

This is the third time Brannon has been caught plagiarizing. Brannon was also previously caught plagiarizing Paul by the New York Times.

Shannon's campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on their similar language.

Here's Clements:

Washington's bureaucratic regulations, bailouts, corporate subsidies and excessive taxation have made it virtually impossible for the market to produce new forms of cheap and clean energy.

And here's Paul:

Washington's bureaucratic regulations, corporate subsidies, and excessive taxation have made it virtually impossible for the market to produce new forms of cheap and clean energy.

Here's Clements:

Gun rights advocates need to know that the 2nd amendment is only as good as the fourth amendment. If we are not free from unreasonable and warrantless searches, no one's guns are safe.

And here's Paul:

Gun rights advocates need to know that the 2nd amendment is only as good as the fourth amendment. If we are not free from unreasonable and warrantless searches, no one's guns are safe.

Here's Shannon:

The Department of Education should be abolished. As the department has grown in size, test scores and scholastic performance have markedly dropped. More money, more bureaucracy, and more government intervention have eroded educational standards. Local governments, parents and teachers are far better equipped to meet the needs of their students than the federal government which puts teacher unions' interests over the education of students. I believe in local control over education so that parents can play a much more significant role in their children's schooling. The federal government has disregarded parental rights, restricted and over-regulated teachers, and over-tested our kids. The expansion of the Common Core curriculum is a perfect example. The federal government sold Common Core with the promise of increased standards, but instead gave us an inflexible curriculum that does not equip our children for college. I supported the repeal of Common Core in Oklahoma state government and will continue to fight against it in the United States Senate.

And here's Paul:

As the Federal Government has increased the size of the Department of Education, test scores and scholastic performance have markedly dropped. More money, more bureaucracy, and more government intervention are eroding this nation's educational standards.

The existence of the Department of Education is an overreach of constitutional authority by the federal government. State and local governments, parents and teachers are far better equipped to meet the needs of their students than the red-tape-laden department, which was established for and tends to benefit teachers' unions rather than students.

I believe in more local control over education, where states, localities, and parents can play a much more significant role in their children's schooling. The federal government has simply used its power to disregard parental rights, restrict teachers, and leave kids with an unsatisfactory education, unable to compete in a quickly advancing world. Innovation in education will never come from an overgrown federal bureaucracy, mandating standards and discounting local input.