COMPROMISE

Rand Paul refuses to compromise his “core beliefs”. I can admire someone who refuses to compromise his principals: honesty, integrity, fairness, and faith. But belief in a smaller central government, low taxes, deficit reduction, less government regulation, etc. are policies, not principals, and an unwillingness to compromise on policy is another way to saying “I am the only one with the truth”, or “my way is the only way and I have no respect and do not value anyone else’s opinions or beliefs”.

An elected official represents all of the citizens of his or her state, regardless of how they voted. For every 100 votes received, there may be 75 or more that the winning candidate did not receive which means a significant percentage of the voters do not share their beliefs, and their views deserve to be acknowledged and respected.
This applies to officials of any party.

If an elected official refuses to compromise on policy, then that person has no business being in politics. Our country cannot be served by those who refuse to recognize and respect opposing views and are unwilling to find common ground.