DURHAM — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul Saturday sought to convince younger voters to support Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate who understands jobs are created in the private sector, not by expanding government.

With the election less than three weeks away, Paul (R-Ky.) spoke to about 100 students and area residents during a Republican rally at the University of New Hampshire. This nation is facing a choice between two different belief systems, he said.

“I think the American dream is not where you are now, it's where you want to go,” Paul said.

Paul said Romney is better qualified to lead the country out of the current economic crisis than President Barack Obama. If re-elected, Paul said, Obama will continue to increase the percentage of people who depend on an ever-expanding government.

Paul said unsustainable spending and borrowing to pay off entitlements such as Social Security and Medicaid could be slowed down by gradually raising the age of eligibility for these programs.

He said both parties are to blame for out-of-control spending and the resulting national debt.

“The Republicans doubled the debt in the beginning of the century, but Democrats are quadrupling it,” Paul said.

Saying that money should be left with those who earn it, Paul expressed opposition to taxing the rich to pay for increased spending, a tactic, he said, that failed to pull the country out of the Great Depression.

“The top 1 percent who the President hates so much pays 40 percent of the taxes,” Paul said. “If you want them to pay their fair share, you'd have to reduce their taxes.”

He said the same applies to the top 5 percent of earners, who pay 70 percent of the taxes.

Paul, who is seeking re-election in his own state, is the son of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who has run for President three times, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012.

“My father and I don't agree with each other on every issue,” the younger Paul said. But, he added, they agree on the importance of reducing the size of government, decreasing spending and expanding opportunities.

Paul said his father's message has reached voters in areas that are not traditionally Republican, such as Vermont, Maine and California.

“In the long term, Republicans need to figure out the Libertarian approach,” he said.