By Tribune-Review

Published: Friday, March 8, 2013, 8:57 p.m.
Updated: Friday, March 8, 2013

We all welcomed the few days of sunshine that recently brightened and interrupted our long winter. And so, too, I appreciate Sen. Rand Paul, who has sparked optimism in our country again.

Paul courageously defended our Constitution and, surprisingly, got a good deal of attention. Not from the mainstream media or the White House but from many young people viewing the issue on the Internet — everyday people and even liberals (such as Sen. Ron Widen of Oregon and actor John Cusack), who were all appalled at this administration's blatant disregard for the Constitution in their unapologetic use of drones, even potentially against Americans.

Paul's old-fashioned filibuster, which easily could have backfired, forced President Obama's attorney general to give a long-overdue answer, admitting that the president has no authority to unilaterally order such strikes, thus acknowledging that the Constitution still has validity today.

Hopefully, the American public is waking up to the idea that the Constitution is the one thing that unites us all — Democrat and Republican, gay and straight, rich and poor, black, white and Hispanic, Christian, Jew and atheist. It gives the federal government some authority to allow this country to function but stops it from trampling our individual and state's rights.

Our Constitution is the one thing that differentiates us from other nations and we must fight to preserve it. Thank God we still have representatives such as Rand Paul who are willing to stick their necks out for such a noble and yet often ignored document.

Michael Contes

New Kensington

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