Potential Republican presidential candidate and current Senator Rand Paul was profiled for a piece in the New York Times over the weekend titled Rand Paul's Mixed Inheritance. The piece focuses on the Senator's libertarian-leaning philosophy and mentions Rush at one point when discussing his high school years:
...Rand was engrossed in his own course of libertarian study: He received a set of Ayn Rand novels for his 17th birthday. And he followed the rock band Rush, some of whose lyrics had libertarian themes.
Gary L. Gardner Jr., a high school friend, said: "I remember even back then being on a swim team bus and a Rush song comes on. I think it was the song 'Trees' - and he said, 'Man, listen to the words of this, you know those guys have got to be conservative.' "
"The Trees" tells the story of maples, overshadowed by tall oaks, that form a union to bring equality to the woods "by hatchet, ax and saw." ...
During Paul's run for Senate back in 2010 he would regularly use Rush music in his campaign videos. Rush eventually got wind of this and had their lawyer send the campaign a letter asking him to stop.
