Website run by former Ron Paul staffer criticizes Rand Paul

A libertarian website run by Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-Texas) former chief of staff criticized Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday for voting to enhance sanctions against Iran.

“Look who voted for sanctions against Iran,” David Kramer wrote at Lew Rockwell’s blog. “My how far the apple has fallen from the tree.”

Rockwell is Ron Paul’s former chief of staff, worked as a contributing editor on his newsletters, and has consulted on a few of his presidential campaigns.

Last week, the Senate unanimously approved amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act meant to bolster sanctions imposed against Iran. Rand Paul voted in favor of the amendments, which his father has likened to “an act of war.”

In a floor speech earlier this year, Ron Paul called the bill the “Obsession with Iran Act” and said it would bring the U.S. one step closer to war with Iran.

“A vote for this ... will show that it’s just one more step to another war that we don’t need,” he said. “We have not been provoked, [Iran] is not a threat to our national security and we should not be doing this. For the past 10 to 15 years we’ve been obsessed with this idea that we go to war and try to solve all the problems of the world. At the same time, it is bankrupting us.”

Ron Paul is retiring at the end of the year, and libertarians are hopeful Rand Paul will carry on his father's legacy.

But as a potential future Republican presidential candidate, Rand Paul may have to bend from some of Ron Paul’s more strident libertarian views to gain the support from the Republican mainstream that his father never could.

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