Rand Paul is anything but open minded! Jimmy Carter was probably the most open minded president we have ever had, and probably one of the worst. It is NOT possible for a solid conservative, nor a solid liberal, to be open minded. Children (and 42% of Americans) are open minded and thus impressionable, politicians running for elected office are anything but on both sides of the aisle.

Americans have increasingly voted for the image, the "Hollywood Factor" sans substance, and we are where it has gotten us. You just want to polish it to fit your image of where it should be, however you are still heading down the exact same path that brought us liberalism.