I was once a big fan of recently-declared presidential candidate Rand Paul. The first-term U.S. Senator had the youth, the energy and the right ideas to give the Republican Party the resurgence they’ve been seeking for years. His ideas of ending voter disenfranchisement, supporting reforms in the prison system and taking a critical approach to the “War on Drugs” appealed to people my age, as well as Libertarian-minded people at large.

But sadly, just as so many seemingly unique politicians do, Paul began preaching textbook partisan talking points the moment he officially declared his intentions to run for President.

During his speech and ever since, Paul has been speaking about how he would increase the defense budget, how he would fight the evil of radical Islam, how he would protect American borders – the same old conservative garbage that I’ve heard time and time again.

Honestly, when will these conservatives realize that our military budget is by far the biggest in the world? We spend more on defense than the next 10 countries combined and spent $682 billion on defense in 2012.

When will they realize that you will never defeat radical Islam, as it is an idea that young men in impoverished parts of the world will always be drawn to, and that our presence in the Middle East has done nothing but cause tensions to boil over even further? Not to mention it has cost thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars.

When will they realize that sealing off our borders only hurts us, as our economy depends on the work of people who come here to make a better life for themselves and their family?

Apparently Paul is one of the conservatives who doesn’t realize these things, as he wants to increase spending on defense and border protection, but wants to cut domestic programs.

He proposed a 20 percent decrease in spending for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cutting the National Science Foundation 62 percent and slashing the NASA budget by 25 percent. I find it humorous that Republicans propose ideas like this and wonder why they get labeled the anti-science party.

Despite Paul’s recent setbacks with his supposed Libertarian ideals, there is still hope for him. He could be the politician to give millions of ex-prisoners the right to vote and take part in the country they paid their debt to. He could be the politician to end the American empire and get rid of useless military bases in Germany and Japan. And he could be the politician to end the senseless, utter failure known as the “War on Drugs.”

But as long as he keeps preaching these stale Republican ideas, I’m going to remain skeptical.