Ben Carson is sad because what would have been his legacy was his pioneering work as a surgeon. He was my friend's doctor because she had a very rare condition. Instead, now it's this.
It is sad. He was a childhood hero of mine.
Then he started talking as an adult. *sighs*.
As far as Rand Paul goes...
I'm actually for phasing out the department of education. Not out of any libertarian mindset but out of a federalist one. I'm strongly pro state government. Sadly these days state government is largely ignored because the federal is simply "bigger". Which is a sham, more stuff that impacts your day to day life happens there. In my perfect world taxes would be flipped, I'd pay a lot more to my state government and only a minimal amount to the federal.
Balanced budget amendment is rather silly. It would never fix the real problem of congressional gridlock and increasing uselessness. I personally blame the 2 year election cycle. It's impossible to get anything productive done when you're always running for reelection. A cap on campaign spending and restriction on PAC's would help but I doubt that'll ever happen.
I don't discuss abortion issues. Ever. It's a very personal and emotional issue for people and just not worth talking about. The one and only thing I will say about it is that if it's an important issue to you one way or the other pay more attention to state government. That's where the real battle is taking place.