I have tried to use this particular category People We Should Know for people we should know that aren’t really known, but are positively contributing to the culture, vitality and leadership of western civilization.  I haven’t considered Senator Marco Rubio of Florida for this discussion, not because he is not potentially an exceptional defender of the Ramparts, but because everybody has already considered him a pivotal figure.  I hate jumping on the bandwagon, when there are so many more articulate than I to define this person’s potential.  Well, I am over it.   Marco Rubio is so talented,  so capable of articulating a nation’s future, that avoiding the bandwagon affect is inappropriate for this blogsite.  Thus, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as a premier defender of the Ramparts is #16 -People We Should Know, and know we must.

     Marco Rubio was born in 1971, making him only 40 years old, and already meteoric in his rise to national consciousness.  The son of Cuban exile immigrants from that island’s communist oppression, Rubio has been immersed from birth in the power of individual performance and achievement to fuel success in America.  A graduate of the University of Florida and a cum laude graduate of the school of law at the University of Miami, Rubio has taken to the American political stage like only a prodigy can.  Briefly serving as a city commissioner for West Miami, Rubio won at 29 a position as state representative with the Florida State Legislature, and by 2006 at only age 35 so convinced his caucus of his leadership skills that he was elected Speaker of the Florida House.  His rhetorical skills were felt to be once in a generation, and uniquely so, in both english and spanish. 

      Rubio determined in 2010 to run for the vacated U.S. Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez, though it had essentially been assumed to be a “lock” for the sitting Republican Florida governor Charlie Crist.  Crist, a classic fence sitter philosophically, came out in favor of President Obama’s stimulus and Obamacare healthplan, and set himself up for clear debating points by his young primary challenger.  He learned what many will learn over time, it’s not a good idea to challenge Marco Rubio to  a debate of issues if you plan not to get overwhelmed.  A double digit deficit disappeared in a few months as Rubio ignored his lack of establishment support, money, and political organization to go directly to the people regarding Crist’s waxpaper thin “conservative” veneer, and articulate a comprehensive and positive conservative message, demolishing his opponent in the primary.  Crist, hurt by the upstart’s willingness to challenge his “coronation”, and convinced that the conservative base of the Republican party was too narrow to carry Rubio to victory against a “moderate” opponent, stunned his party by abdicating his party and running in the general election against Rubio as an independent.  Bad idea.  The shellacking Rubio put upon him in the general election was immense, and effectively ended Crist’s political career under any banner.

     Marco Rubio as candidate, nominee, and victor has been better than advertised and that’s saying alot.  A base conservative that appeals to the larger population on the strength of his spectacular rhetorical skills, reasonableness of approach, tact, and intelligence is marking a formidable position already in the U.S. Senate.  Senator Rubio has returned the Senate to the world of debate, requiring no teleprompter to articulate a cohesive vision, and understanding the power of words to clarify a position and win over the hesitant believer.  His future in politics knows no ceiling, and those who see him in action know it.  President Obama whose glibness has been proven to evolve from a moving transcript, knows how he looks when he rhetorically wrestles with young legislative lions like Rubio and Paul Ryan, has no desire to find himself like Charlie Crist, a supposedly unsinkable ship dashed on the rhetorical rocks of principle that these men articulate.  We are finally in the presence of some special people, who will not just talk a good game, but walk the walk, maybe saving this great country in the nick of time.

     Hot Air has linked a terrific video that encapsulates all the strengths of Senator Marco Rubio in a single impassioned speech before the Senate, regarding the process of dealing with the debt crisis.  Senator John Kerry decides to take him on, and learns the Crist lesson first hand.  Watch the whole video beginning to end, and wonder if this isn’t our next national leader.