Why Rand Paul Is Dumber Than He Thinks


Rand Paul got into trouble by stating that he opposes parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which mandates private business owners serve all perspective customers/clients/patients regardless of race. Paul makes it clear that he abhors racism, but finds that freedom is more important than upholding the Ninth Amendment. That’s all well and good if this was just about some segregationist huckster who was just selling overpriced sody-pop out of a cooler in the parking lot at a high school football game. I can get my sody-pop anywhere else.

But this is not about scalped cola. I may be driving through Kentucky with my car running on fumes. I stop at the last gas station for the next 22 miles. The proprietor of the gas station refuses to serve me. Rand Paul just happens to in the gas station campaigning. I recognize him and ask him to intervene, but he ruefully explains to me that while he abhors racism it would be even worse for him to infringe on this businessman’s freedom to discriminate against me. So there I am stuck in the middle of nowhere racist Kentucky (no offense) with nothing but the Hush Puppy Express to get to the next gas station miles away and for Rand Paul that’s preferable than just making the gas jockey sell me his gas.

And that does not even represent the worst possible situation. If in Rand’s world during my Kentucky travels I got sick and the nearest hospital was a racially hostile private hospital they could deny me medical care couldn’t they? It would be no different from the Old South where Blacks were denied access to the point where they could not possibly get a fair shake. One can not compete fairly when the marketplace won’t cater to you based on the color of your skin. I guess Rand Paul would say with all the logic of a college freshman tripping on acid for the first time that it would all even out if everyone discriminated against each other all at the same time. Who knows what brand of Libertarianism Paul adheres to but obviously it does not hold dear the concept of equality.

But wait. It gets even worse! Add to this the Libertarian fantasy of a privatized everything. Libertarians would privatize air if they could. So in Rand Paul’s Libertarian Paradise everything people needed would be sold through private business which has the right to refuse to engage in transactions with people based on the color of their skin. So Joe Klansman (not a Jew) owns the nearest five bridges across the Mississippi (because Libertarians like privatizing bridges) and it would be permissible in a Rand Paul universe to not allow Chinese people to cross them. This scenario would never happen, but the fact that Rand Paul would endorse it according to his political economic inclination is vexing.

People like Paul are stuck on the notion of Freedom without considering any sort of common sense or sense of moderation. There is no fucking such thing as complete freedom. Agreeing to live in a civil society requires giving up some freedoms in the name of order and functionality. People in a civilization can’t just do whatever they want. Yes, we need to support individual freedom WITHIN REASON. If you don’t believe that, try telling your hot, but bitchy co-worker she has a juicy ass in front of witnesses and you will find out your Freedom of Speech is not worth shit. But maybe Rand Paul thinks that bans on sexual harassment are infringements on Freedom too.

And maybe Paul supports the freedom of BP to cut corners by omitting emergency shut-off measures in offshore oil wells or the freedom of all corporations from regulation and law. He might as well. Just let the inmates run the asylum because there is no one in charge in Rand Paul’s world. Maybe that’s why so many people like him are so pro-gun; They are so shifty and anti-social that inevitably they will have to defend themselves with a violent barrage of gunfire.

On one level I agree with Paul. Government should not have to tell people the right thing to do. Where I differ with him is when people refuse to do the right thing and the effects of that negligence begins to have deleterious effects on what our government is supposed to protect – THE PEOPLE! In that case, the government damn well better step in. I have said this before, and I will repeat that the Constitution is not a formulary of possible laws. It DOES provide the framework for the creation of law. If Rand Paul was around during the Washington Administration he and his nutty friends would be complaining about the government overstepping its bounds by establishing U.S. copyright law and naturalization guidelines, neither of which are covered in the Constitution.

It comes down to the interpretation of a more perfect Union. Personally, I think it would be more perfect if people like Rand Paul stepped out of their sheltered little cubbies, and stopped assailing a government that actually does more than (not) collect taxes and raise armies. Hey Rand, cool down, grow up, and drop out.

6 comments:

  1. Yes. As first comment poster you get your first choice of t-shirts: Guinness, Los Angeles Clippers, Athens 2004, Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Tour, Earth Day, "My Other Car Is On Blocks," plain white, ENRON, The Weakest Link, Visit Wilkes-Barre.

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  2. Perhaps his comments will allow people to understand why he is a fringe element!

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  3. His real name is Ayn Rand Paul and he sure lives down to his namesake!

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  4. What, no 1 vs. 100 shirt? *sigh* Never mind.

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