Yesterday Rand Paul, the rising star of the Republican Party, compared the United States to the Roman Empire in its last days.

This sort of rhetoric is indistinguishable from the anti-American rants of Al Qaeda, and it’s now standard tea party fare. Why does Rand Paul hate America?

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. — Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul likened the United States to the Roman Empire in the days before it fell during a speech at a tea party rally on Thursday.

“In the latter days of Rome, the economy was crumbling, the emperor … would placate the mob with bread and circus — food and entertainment to placate them since the economy was in shambles and dwindling around them,” Paul told several hundred people gathered for the rally in a Bullitt County park.

“Now in our country, as our economy is in shambles, they give us Cash for Clunkers and a stimulus check and they tell us to go to the mall and spend your money and everything will be OK … That’s not how you become prosperous as an individual or a country,” he told the crowd of supporters.