HOUSTON Rand Paul wants to lead the United States. On Saturday in Texas, his father was speaking at a conference about how to leave it.

"A lot of times people think secession, they paint it as an absolute negative," said former representative Ron Paul (R-Tex.). After all, Paul said, the American Revolution was a kind of secession. "You mean we should have been obedient to the king forever? So it's all in the way you look at it."

This weekend was a crucial one for Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky and undeclared candidate for the presidency. He was in California, trying to line up donors at an opulent retreat organized by the billionaire Koch brothers.

At the same time, his father retired after 12 terms in Congress and three presidential runs was in the ballroom of an airport hotel here, the final speaker at "a one-day seminar in breaking away from the central state." He followed a series of speakers who said that the U.S. economy and political establishment were tottering and that the best response might be for states, counties and even individuals to break away.

"The America we thought we knew, ladies and gentlemen, is a mirage. It's a memory. It's a foreign country," Jeff Deist, Ron Paul's former press secretary and chief of staff, told the group. "And that's precisely why we should take secession seriously."

The contrasting scenes this weekend illuminate the odd situation of the Pauls as the 2016 campaign season begins. They are a father and son tied together but running in opposite directions.

Rand, 52, is contemplating a presidential run at its heart, an act of optimism. He is moderating some hard-line positions and introducing himself to donors and voters. At the same time, Ron, 79, has embraced a role as libertarianism's prophet of doom, telling his supporters that the United States is headed for catastrophes and might actually need catastrophes to get on the right track

Which puts Rand Paul in the unusual position of trying to win over the country while his father says it is going down the tubes.

Asked by a reporter whether he was worried about making trouble for his son's presidential campaign by talking about secession here, Ron Paul deflected the blame to the press: "If we had decent reporters, there would never be any problems. You think you could ever meet one? Have a heart, buddy."

A spokesman for Rand Paul said he was not available to comment for this story. Both Pauls have said that if Rand Paul runs for president, his father will not campaign with him.

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Are Ron Paul's hard-core stands a problem for son's presidential bid?