Story by Ashley Traylor, Staff writer

Senate voting will take place on election day and Kentucky Senate incumbent Rand Paul is campaigning to receive students’ votes at Murray State.

Students had the opportunity to take a photo with Paul and ask questions at the end of his campaign speech.

Paul focused his speech on protecting the rights of minorities in society. He said one can be a minority based on the color of his or her skin or one’s ideology. Minorities can be evangelical Christians or people who have a specific definition of marriage, but he said we have the right to believe what we want to believe.

He supported his argument with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from the Birmingham City Jail, saying, “An unjust law is when a numerical majority write a law on a minority and don’t make it binding on themselves.”

He said King’s idea is everyone has unalienable rights that our naturally ours.

Paul said he was in favor of a small government and he said government officials need to spend government money wisely.

“This is why the government does things that are so foolish, because it is not their money,” Paul said. “This isn’t an argument for no government. It’s an argument for only giving government the responsibilities that it absolutely must have.”

Paul said the government needs to be limited but should also be responsible for national defense and immigration laws.

He said the government is not spending taxpayer money wisely. For example, he said the government spent $100 billion paving roads and infrastructure in Afghanistan.  

“Why don’t you want to pave the roads for them?” Paul said. “Because we don’t have enough money. We can’t pave the roads here and build bridges here and schools in our country if we’re spending it elsewhere.”  

Paul said he also made appearances at University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University and several town halls across the state.

Glenda Wright, senior from Owensboro, Kentucky, said she came to hear Rand Paul speak because she likes hearing each candidate’s opinions on the issues.

She said she agreed with a lot of the points Paul made and she found his speech informational.

“I liked his points on the Constitution and those rights for everybody and limited government,” Wright said.

Alex Bokeno, senior from Murray, said he liked Paul a lot and coming to hear him speak was beneficial.

“You only hear news, so it was good to see him elaborate,” Bokeno said. “He’s cool, calm and collected. He appealed to independents today.”  

Other issues Paul is an advocate for include:

•      American’s right to privacy
•      Expanding the private sector and shrinking the federal government
•      Securing the borders
•      Equal protection under the law and fair treatment of everyone under the law
•      Natural rights such as owning a gun, freedom of speech, religious liberty, etc.