If You Read One Thing [***] About How Out-of-Control Gov't Spending Is, How Similar Reps Are to Dems, & Why We Can't Wait to Fix Things, Read Rand Paul's Floor Speech from Yesterday!

Here's Sen. Rand Paul, talking on the floor of the Senate yesterday. Snippets:

If we were to adopt the president's approach, we would have $1.65 trillion deficit in one year. If we were to adopt our [the Republican leadership's] approach, we're going to have a $1.55 trillion deficit in one year. I think both approaches do not significantly alter or delay the crisis that's coming.

Now, it's interesting when we talk about cuts, everybody seems to be giddy around here, saying this is the first time we have talked about cuts.

Well, it is better and it sounds good, but guess what? We're not even really cutting spending. What we're talking about is cutting the rate of increase of spending. The base line of spending is going to go up 7.3 % according to the CBO.

We're talking about reducing that increase to 6.7% increase. We're talking about cutting the rate of increase of government. The problem is it's not enough….

We have increased military spending by 120% since 2001. We have doubled military spending.

Now, I'm for a strong national defense. I believe that it is a constitutional function of the federal government to provide for our national defense. I think it is the pre-eminent power, the pre-eminent enumerated power, the thing we should be doing here. But even that being said, we cannot every eight years double the Defense Department, double the military spending….

do we want to have government by crisis?

Already we can't even pass a budget. We can't pass appropriations bills. Our bills do not even go to the committees anymore. They just come to the floor and we put a patchwork quilt on them and there's a chance this ends up being two more weeks. It is not the way you should run government….

I recently proposed $500 billion in cuts and when I went home and spoke to the people of my state, spoke to those from the Tea Party, they said, $500 billion is not enough and they're right.

$500 billion is a third of one year's problem.

Up here that's way too bold, but it's not even enough.

Whole thing here.

Meanwhile, we've got jackasses talking about the need to preserve tax-funded cowboy poetry slams and other tiny trims that have been too long in coming.

Here's how to balance the budget without raising taxes or gutting essential services (which doesn't include cowboy poetry, fyi).

Reason on Rand Paul.

[***]: And if you want to read two things today about Rand Paul, make sure to check our former Reason intern Mike Rigg's profile at The Daily Caller.