on race in our USA:Yes, true libertarians (Libertarians?) don't believe the federal government has the right to regulate anything private. Really. So while this extremist point of view seems reasonable and divorced from racism, it's actually pointing out the relationship between the Tea Party and racism, per Bob Cesca:
However, he obviously supports allowing businesses to engage in racial discrimination with impunity. Evidently, if the government says it's against the law to run a whites-only business, this is a bridge too far for Rand Paul.
...Rand Paul's extremist position on the Civil Right Act underscores a major flaw in libertarian ideology, and it further cements the connection between the tea party movement and race.
Libertarianism, which both Ron and Rand Paul famously embrace, suggests the free market is a significant and vital component of liberty. Private businesses are capable of accomplishing everything, and government can't interfere or regulate those businesses in any way. The free market will police itself. Just leave it be.
Private industry can pave roads, educate children, put out fires and protect our streets from drunk drivers. It can shuttle our kids to corporate schools and back, it can provide clean water to our homes and they can guarantee our meat and vegetables aren't contaminated with diseases. And by the way, in a nation that's 70 percent white, private businesses can choose to do all of these things for white people only. Private businesses can provide everything we need, but only offer those services to white people.
And these businesses, according to libertarian ideology, can form monopolies if they want to. As we're all painfully aware from the health care debate, monopolies occur even in our current government-regulated system. Imagine what would happen in a totally unregulated free market.
So, in Rand Paul's utopia, not only can Woolworth's prevent black people from sitting at its soda stand if it wants to, but a private, free market police corporation can set up shop in a community, buy up any competing police corporations and announce that it no longer serves black people or Jewish people or Hispanic people or gay people -- any minority segment of the population.
The Libertarians agree with Rand Paul, and accept that racism and segregation is an "unfortunate" evil in their fantasy for our society. While that does not inherently appear to make them racists, it points to their inability to accept a non-free market remedy. And again, Rand Paul may not be a racist himself, but his campaign manager, who was forced to quit for racist images on his MySpace page, and one assumes someone close to Paul, certainly appears to have been one. By his own evidence.
It turns out that Rand has a history of being against, for example, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act as well. And Ezra Klein has a whole list of questions on what Rand and his fellow Libertarians/Tea Partiers would accept:
For instance: Can the federal government set the private sector's minimum wage? Can it tell private businesses not to hire illegal immigrants? Can it tell oil companies what safety systems to build into an offshore drilling platform? Can it tell toy companies to test for lead? Can it tell liquor stores not to sell to minors? These are the sort of questions that Paul needs to be asked now, because the issue is not "area politician believes kooky but harmless thing." It's "area politician espouses extremist philosophy on issue he will be voting on constantly."
Over the course of the day, Rand Paul began walking back his statements on the Civil Rights Act, then running it back, basically skirting the main question he brought up while finally crying uncle -- "I would have voted yes" for the law. "There was a need for federal intervention."
I expect his dogwhistle followers will discount this reversal and in their hearts know Rand is still one of them, but it sure sounds like a same 'ol same 'ol politician to me.
Massive GOP FAIL to climax in November?
4 comments:
I doubt that Paul is a racist; he's just a libertarian. Cesca's got it mostly right. The real prob with libertarians is that they think life is one big computer model where things, if left alone, will sort themselves out to the best outcome over time. This sort of mental masturbation about policy & economics is fun over beer, as long as you forget that the evidence of actual history debunks it time and time again.
The easiest way to deal with any teabagger is just to put him on camera and ask him what he thinks. These guys aren't shy.
I hate to say it, but it inexperience with the political game is going to be damaging to a lot of these Tea Party candidates. I'm sure the focus on Rand's campaign is now going to be his statement that he doesn't agree with one bullet point in the CRA, which BTW, has been over and done with for almost half a century.
Politicians vote for bills with provisions that they don't agree with all the time. It's the nature of politics these days. (Part of the problem)
I mean 2000+ pages to reform health care.
Maddow and other journalists ( and I admit especially those on the right) pick a single talking point to discredit a persons agenda. To put it bluntly:
THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT.
Race will always be the core platform of the left. It's their trump card and it seems that there deck is stacked with them. The party will always be a joke, because it has no substance, and when it doesn't get it's way it blackmails the rest of us into this race issue.
Two things that will bring unity to this country. One drop the hyphenated prefix to american. No more mexican-americans, african-americans, asian-americans. We're all American. Second english becomes the national language. If you're going to live here learn it.
Teddy Roosevelt:
'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.'
Let's table this race game and focus on fixing the country.
I'd like to agree on the ideal of a raceless society and of the Paul's being clean on it, but there's a rather unfortunate trail following them... http://www.thegrio.com/politics/how-race-has-haunted-both-ron-and-rand-paul.php
Race?! Hell, anybody want to take a wild guess as to what young Rand thinks about child labor laws?
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