Addition by division doesn’t work in math or in politics.
Senator Marco Rubio’s impressive debate performances, unique relatability, and heartwarming family story should put him in position to be a transformative candidate and add new voters to the GOP — especially millennials.
Like most recent grads, Rubio himself struggled with student loans until recently; that relatability is his biggest asset among young professionals.
But his biggest liability among millennials is his campaign’s bizarre strategy to label other candidates as weak on terror because they support limits on the NSA’s mass data collection.
Rubio is trying to add support by dividing the Party on surveillance — hoping if he out-hawks everyone, he’ll come off as the toughest man to defeat ISIS and win the GOP primary.
It’s one thing to say we should be careful to take tools away from the people defending our homeland. It’s another to say Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz want to “weaken the U.S. intelligence programs.”
Their votes for NSA reform, joined by many other Republicans who supported the bill, will “cost us the ability to gather actionable intelligence against elements operating in our territory,” Rubio said.
As Republican Sen. James Lankford put it when he voted for the limits, “National security and privacy are not mutually exclusive.”
The bill instructs the NSA to go to a special, expedited court before accessing bulk phone records now held by phone companies, instead of being stored directly by the NSA. These checks show a basic level of respect toward the privacy of American citizens, yet Rubio has proven he couldn’t care less about civil liberties and 4th Amendment protections.
Sure, not all Republicans are like Ron Paul or even Rand Paul on this issue, but instead of gaining new supporters, Rubio should worry about scaring off the support he already has from voters who aren’t mega-hawks. Many Republicans, especially younger voters, worry about big government spying on our personal data.
Rubio should be Republicans best shot at winning the youth vote in 2016, but if he keeps this strategy up, he can kiss the campus and millennial vote goodbye.
