The following letter to the editor is in response to a column about Rand Paul published by the Kentucky Kernel on Nov. 8.

Imagine my dismay as a college student to see something in our award-winning state university’s newspaper supporting Rand Paul, who does not think public education should exist, that the Department of Education is unconstitutional federal overreach and wants to eliminate the Pell Grant program. 

I live under the poverty line, while I attempt to get a college degree to make my life better. Rand Paul undermines every social program that allows me to try to pull myself up by my bootstraps, including wanting to repeal the ACA, which has allowed me to have two life saving procedures that have allowed me to continue my studies, and also my Pell Grant, without which, a college education would be out of my reach. The Department of Education made sure that I had equal access to education by having a public education system. If the public education system did not exist, I would be working a minimum wage job, and ole Rand does not support a living wage. Rand Paul would deny me the right to decide my own future- educationally, financially and bodily. 

No, one does not have to agree with every move their party makes, and there is never a perfect candidate or party. But, we expect our representatives to work for us. Rand Paul does not. Rand Paul only works for his ideology, which is even more extreme than Party Line Republicans. The idea that anyone, especially at a public university, would support someone who supports freedom only insofar as it applies to businesses and not to individuals is laughable. 

You may support Rand, but I support the party and politicians that actually make your education possible. That is standing for my own truth, and it is the opposite of Rand Paul’s. 

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