Presidential Aspirant Rand Paul Led an Ophthalmologists' Rebellion in Kentucky

"The letters came from a young ophthalmologist in Kentucky. He was recruiting for an eye doctors’ rebellion," reports the Washington Post. "'We won’t be trod upon,' he wrote, using the language of 1776. 'You can’t promulgate injustice without consequences.' The injustice he was talking about was a new rule, from the powerful group that deems American ophthalmologists to be 'board-certified.' It required younger doctors to take a test that older doctors did not have to take. The Kentucky doctor was so outraged that he seceded — and started his own Board of Ophthalmology, so he could certify himself.

“'You can send a clear message to the establishment' by signing up to be certified by the new board, too, the letter said. 'Check the appropriate box and return the card with your $500. Sincerely, Rand Paul, M.D.' The letter, from about 2003, helps illuminate a little-understood (and mostly ridiculed) chapter of Paul’s life before politics: how he became a self-certified ophthalmologist." Read more.

The Post also noted in another article that this man of science and medicine "weighed in on the vaccination debate Monday by asserting that he believes most vaccines should be voluntary. "I'm not anti-vaccine at all but...most of them ought to be voluntary,' Paul told Laura Ingraham on her radio show Monday." His position is odd since individuals can opt not to have their children vaccinated as the current measles outbreak attests. Read more.