In reply: It's not what Rand Paul would've done then, but what he'd do in future, if elected

In reply to: Rand Paul sits down with Joe Arnold to address recent controversial statements - WHAS11.com Louisville Blogs
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With all due respect to Dr Paul, the issue isn't whether or not he's personally a bigot, or whether or not he would've voted for the Civil Rights Act all those years ago. The issue--illustrated by his answers to this hypothetical question about the CRA, but not really ABOUT the CRA--is how he'll vote the next time a law involving government action to regulate the proper use of "private property" that the owner chooses to open to the public.

In the course of this conversation, Dr. Paul has exposed the limits of his libertarian ideology, essentially admitting that government action--including that tenth section of the CRA which so troubles him--was necessary to end racial discrimination. There are some things that market forces alone won't solve.

As far as I'm concerned, THAT is the big take-away here, and I would hope that journalists and bloggers continue to ask Dr. Paul to flesh out his libertarian ideology by exposing it to real-world, practical issues, and how his ideology would affect their outcomes.
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Comment posted May 25, 2010 at 1:31 AM (No links to individual comments)