The big news in Kentucky Tuesday was Rand Paul’s win in the Republican primary over the GOP’s anointed candidate. Rand Paul is a Tea Party favorite, economic libertarian, and son of libertarian legend Ron Paul. I have a bit of a libertarian streak in my past (sharply tempered and humbled by repeated viewings of Eyes on the Prize), so I was curious to see how effectively he could defend some of his fringy-er views. Nobel winner Milton Friedman, for instance, did a pretty amazing job back in his day, mostly by standing by his convictions with courage and clarity, something you can admire whether you agree with him or not.
Not so with Rand Paul. Rachel Maddow asked him a straightforward question: Do you think it should be legal for the owner of restaurant to deny service to blacks? And mostly what we found out…
…is that Rand Paul is a coward.
Everyone — conservatives, liberals, libertarians, and leftists — should look at him with contempt after this interview. If this is the Tea Party’s great white hope (and I do mean white), then we’ve got nothing to worry about.
It’s funny you posted this topic. Was just watching a news clip on the abcnews website. In a “What Would You Do?” segment, the show had actors portray gay parents out with their kids when a waiter (also an actor) harasses the family and ultimately kicks the gay family out of the restaurant. The show used both lesbian moms and gay dads to see if that made a difference. Sadly, almost nobody spoke up in defense of the families even when one of the children began to cry while talking to other customers around them. Most of the clip is depressing. Apparently, many folks have no problem with a restaurant kicking out a gay family so no wonder Paul had so many supporters. Most folks said they didn’t want to get involved. Here’s a link to the story.
http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/waiter-harassing-gay-parents/story?id=10669767
This is very facetious, but I couldn’t help thinking that an amusing drinking game would be to take a drink every time Paul dodged a direct, yes-or-no question with, “Well, you know…”
It seems very clear that he believes the free market would, without any government intervention, be free of any of the discrimination he claims to abhor. But his admitted lack of familiarity with the Civil Rights Act is probably why he misses the fact that the free market approach already failed…more than fifty years ago.
Thanks, I’ve been searching for facts about this subject for ages and yours is the best I’ve found so far.