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Yesterday and as well as today, Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) has been hit with accusations of racism after the pundits on both sides accused him of wanting to repeal the Civil Rights bill of 1964 even though he never said such a thing. This whole thing started when Senate Candidate Attorney General Jack Conway (D-KY) falsely claimed that he supported businesses that discriminated on the basis of race on Hardball yesterday and that corporate media hack Rachel Maddow tried to back him into a corner, and somehow we are to believe that the left cares so much about racial justice even though history shows the opposite.
To begin with, black leaders, neoliberal pundits and some neocons claim that genuine opposition to the Civil Rights Act makes you a racist and this was evident on the media circuit when Rep. James Clyburn (D-NC), Boyce Watkins, and others tried to say that libertarianism leads to discrimination and even Jesse Jackson decided to state that obvious falsehood. However, I would turn this back on them and ask: what about the high unemployment among hispanics, Asian Americans, and African Americans? What about the high school dropout rates among minorities? My question to you fools who pretend to fight for equal rights, what have you done to help those in need? So don’t play this high and mighty bullshit because you’ll learn the hard way that racism can hit back at you.
Speaking of racism, these fools who claim they fight for civil rights seem to forget the disparity in how minorities are paid in their work compared to others. They remind me of the Crying Wolf crowd and pounce on their opponent who shows too much common sense. Rachel Maddow is that example of pouncing on those who deviate from "common wisdom" and call them evil. The same people that cry about racism are also guilty of what many call race hustling. The fact is, even though they claim that black people have progressed, I would say that they did nothing but push them back from progressing because of what I have mentioned before. Those on the left are only interested in name calling and bringing up issues that have nothing to do with this issue. Granted, the right does the exact same thing to libertarians who deviate from their philosophy.
Sure, all the blogs and the media can make Paul look like a racist, but to those who support Paul and his family, remember, this is not a new controversy. In fact, Ron Paul was attacked by both sides for newsletters that were written in the 1990s that he correctly pointed out were not his words and his thoughts. After all, he had the exact same answer as his son about the Civil Rights act when he spoke to the late Tim Russert in 2007, and these attacks go as far back as 1996. However, these attacks fail because people care about what are you going to do to restore the constitution, the free markets, and civil liberties, not about issues that mean nothing today. But let’s be honest, these attacks are the same attacks against us libertarians because we don’t subscribe to the "common wisdom" they force fed us at school. The good thing is that libertarians like myself will continue to support Paul and we will fight against these accusations.
As for myself, I really don’t talk about the Civil Rights Act unless it’s in class (we had a debate on that in my Communications class), or if I am taking my midterms and finals. The fact is, the Civil Rights Act led to affirmative action and led to a special class that could not be fired because they would be accused of racism even though other reasons such as incompetence are the real factors. The fact is, I oppose not only affirmative action, I’ll go as far as opposing hate speech laws and hate crimes laws. The constitution guarantees equal protection under the law and what we are doing with such laws is we are creating a balkanized justice system that benefits one group and not another. And seriously, why do we have hispanic scholarships, black scholarships and other balkanized awards? We must reward and punish people equally and that applies to business as well. If a racist who owns a restaurant only lets his people in, he will be run out of business because in a real capitalist society, racist businessmen lose because they have reduced how much customers they’ll have. Again, I will say that I don’t talk about the specific act or the acts that followed because I am concerned with issues that really affect us.
Again, the fight between Rand Paul and the pundits who hate him expose one thing: Paul wants to have a rational discussion and the other side wants to cover their ears and shout racist all they want. Well, try that (and I’m talking to you Conway), you will lose this one because the people will then ask you what is your solution. If you want to attack libertarians, be honest about your attacks, and we’ll be glad to clear things up. Until then, I stand alongside Rand and you can all go find something else to whine about.
47 Comments
I’m reminded of the story of the drummer in the marching band who couldn’t understand why the rest of the marching band was always too slow.
Guess you didn’t see this, “Even though this matter was settled when I was 2, and no serious people are seeking to revisit it except to score cheap political points, I unequivocally state that I will not support any efforts to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
You’re entitled to your views under the Constitution but your post truly reveals that your education is sorely lacking and reflective less of facts than biases.
That’s what I’ve been saying [Edited by Moderator. Do NOT insult other commenters]. Of course he won’t repeal it because he knows this is not the important issue of the day. What, do I need to remind you that I already saw that. I have to say that Rand is right and all the neocons, and neoliberals are nothing more than race hustlers who are only in it for themselves.
the disparity in wages and unemployment was worse before the civil rights act than it is now. Also why do you complain about affirmative action but legacy scholarships for white c-students like Bush are ok?
Like or not Rand thinks it is ok for employers who discriminate against us for whatever reason they feel like discriminating including race, sex, religion, and not like the same football team. I’ve never pretended to be a Ron Paul voter. I support Greens. I doubt many lefties are potential supporters of the tea party so I don’t know why you are here! The truth is we lefties outnumber you but you get more coverage because you are more business friendly than us. There are issues we can unite on, but I am not white, male or rich and will never be a libertarian. Rand Paul himself seems to be a legacy student who wouldn’t have become a doctor without his family connections. He appeals to libertarians and republicans but not me.
so, if you own a business government can’t tell you what to do, but if you own a vagina, then what?
why can the government force you to feed another human being if it is in your body but can’t if it’s in your restaurant?
Again thank you for proving my point that you seem to think that Rand is some fucking asshole racist, but thankfully I stand by Dr. Paul and you can take that to the bank. He never said it was okay, maybe you need to [Edited by Moderator], damn it. As a matter of fact, he said that no one should discriminate against one another, but he made a great point that government has created a priviledged class that cannot be fired because then the boss might be accused of being racist even though the boss has legitimate reasons such as incompetence, plagiarism, or other factors. Get over yourself and see that the real racists are those who keep everyone in poverty and prevent them from prospering. I put that blame on both parties and our corporatist system. By the way, all scholarships based on race were bad even the ones Bush made. When I got my scholarship from college I got it because I graduated from high school with a 3.8 GPA and I was the only one to get a scholarship since my parents were from Mexico and could not afford to go to school. I didn’t get it because I was hispanic, I got it because of my academic record and my community service. So, stop with your race baiting, you [Edited by Moderator. Do NOT insult other commenters].
well apparently you are arguing with a strawman now, so bye bye. Bush is the one that was unqualified and got the scholarship, simply because he was an elite. Didn’t matter that he was dumber than a stump. He got into harvard and yale anyway. If it hadn’t been for the civil rights act you probably wouldn’t have gone to college despite your record. The college could and probably would have simply discriminated against you! Affirmative action does nothing to prevent firing or flunking it simply biases in favor of discriminated against groups among the already qualified, on issues like hiring and admissions. Such people can still flunk out or be fired.
that government has created a priviledged class that cannot be fired
Is that what the Civil Rights Act was about? Creating priviledged classes that couldn’t be fired?
Here is the clause Rand doesn’t like:
Outlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs without defining the term “private.”
Since Rand considers himself a christian, maybe he should start a campaign convincing christains to give up thier rights under Affirmative Action.
Last time I checked the history books, the American South was a real capitalistic society between 1865 and 1965, yet somehow the white-owned businesses down there didn’t get run out of business for their racist attitudes toward black customers. They prospered and profited by treating their fellow citizens as less-than-human, and often used the government to enforce their beliefs and their prejudices. Don’t try to whitewash history.
Blue Texan knocked down most of these arguments of straw earlier today on the FDL front page. Here’s a taste:
Read your headline, then read it again then read it again see any problem with your assertion?
well put–keep up the good work
He said he would have preferred to let business discriminate and thats what was reported its what he said Rachel was arguing about that.
Maybe Rand should have spoke clearer so you could understand.
We’ve done plenty! Rand however would make all these things worse if corporations could get away with being all white how much would that raise minority unemployment?
How many white racist Doctors like Rand would refuse to treat Dark people?
Affirmative action for well connected white people
Aside from that, I think It’s unfathomable that you think a serious conversation about revoking civil rights is reasonable. These don’t set anyone class or ethnicity above another, they guarantee a basic degree of fairness. We’ve had this argument already – it’s part of the constitution now and we should extend them further to LGBTs.
We don’t need to go backwards, and I think you need to study our history better before you argue in defense of returning to it.
Are you familiar with Jesse Washington?
http://www.withoutsanctuary.org/pics_09.html
Black BBQ’s were common only a half a century ago.
Nope we have not forgotten how would Rand’s ideas help? We think they would hurt your not giving any supporting arguments for your claim. Plus your off topic in your own post
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Please provide examples
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Yes after 8 years of Bush and a year of Obama doing nothing the common wisdom has been following Rachel the whole time
African Americans are not better off than they were before the civil rights movement? Try again
Your to the right of Jbade our resident Paulite. Sorry but yes a U.S senator’s views on laws like the Civil Rights act are fair game and voters deserve to know how a senator will vote on laws since he would help make them.
Newsletters that had his name he correctly pointed out were not his words and his thoughts
Sorry nobody is buying that fish story:)
Racism means nothing today? We can put some black make up on you to make you look African American and then send you out to look for a job.
Lets see you try and go to a bar and hit on a white women in a Bridgeport Chicago Irish pub.
Assuming you make it back to your car driving while black is still a crime a busted tail light the slightest waver driving and the police will search your car.
Try complaining about your rights and you might spend the night in Cook County jail. Hope you like being sold the other prisoners I hear sometimes hold auctions.
Jbade your backing this nut I’m disappointed.
I’ve been fired lots of times just where are you getting your information? You obviously don’t work for a living or run your own business.
If your worried about incompetence then ask why Bush who ran how many business into the ground became President.
The GOP is Racist why Racism is a loosing strategy.
By: ThingsComeUndone Monday May 3, 2010 3:50 am
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Why are the Racist GOP so intent on stopping Hispanics from voting?
2012 election
The results of the 2010 census will determine the number of seats each state receives in the United States House of Representatives starting with the 2012 elections. Consequently, this will also affect the number of votes that states receive in the Electoral College for the 2012 presidential election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_Census
The Elite racists want to repeat history they have a bad economy and want to find a minority scapegoat so the people don’t blame the businessmen.
The Racist GOP can’t let Hispanics vote this upcoming election if they expect to hold power. Not after Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck have been bad mouthing Hispanics for years.
Conclusion The Racist Republican Party passes laws to protect the supposedly Superior People by restricting our voting rights, education and ability to move up.
The Elite Racist set the lower class Whites against all Dark People, Women, Gays anyone Different to prevent them from realizing that they are being kept down too. Divide and Conquer
Darwin would advocate struggle not the Reverse Darwinism Crony Capitalism system we have now in America that puts Elite people like Ex President Bush an obvious fool in a position at the top of society.
Truly superior people would help their inferiors the same way we build ramps for people in wheel chairs. Instead they don’t fund our education at the same rate they do Whites.
Savage Inequalities
Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools is a book written by Jonathan Kozol in 1991 that discusses the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races. It is based on his observations of various classrooms in the public school systems of East St. Louis, Chicago, New York City, Camden, Cincinnati, and Washington D.C.. His observations take place in both schools with the lowest per capita spending on students and the highest, ranging from just over $3,000 in Camden, New Jersey to a maximum expenditure of up to $15,000 in Great Neck, Long Island.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Inequalities
So instead of rising or falling to their natural level the Elite are protected no matter what they do as evidenced by Bush’s rise to the Presidency despite his record of failed business.
Arbusto, an oil exploration company, lost money, but it got considerable investments (nearly $5 million) because even losing oil investments were useful as tax shelters.
Spectrum 7 Energy Corp. bought out Arbusto in 1984 and hired Mr. Bush to run the company’s oil interests in Midland, Texas. The oil business collapsed as oil prices plummeted by 1986, and Spectrum 7 Energy was near failure.
Harken Energy acquired Mr. Bush’s Spectrum 7 Energy shares, and he got Harken shares, a directorship, and a consulting arrangement in return. Harken, under Bush, brought in Saudi real estate tycoon Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh as a board member and a major investor. Over the next few years, Harken would turn out to have links to: Saudi money, CIA-connected Filipinos, the Harvard Endowment, the emir of Bahrain, and the shadowy Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
A 1991 internal SEC document suggested George W. Bush violated federal securities law at least 4 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s in selling Harken stock while serving as a director of Harken. This is essentially the same kind of activity that Martha Stewart is going to prison over. Except at the time of the investigation, Mr. Bush’s father was president and the case was quietly dropped.
http://alaric3rh.home.sprynet.com/science/bceo.html
Mr Legacy Admission to Harvard, Mr Gentleman’s C Harvard MBA should be bagging groceries at Jewel if Merit not Family Connections decided things.
a 2005 New York Times series on income mobility that shows that the United States ranks second to last among Great Britain, US, France, Canada, and Denmark when it comes to the rate of income improvement over four generations for poor families. And here are two very interesting recent studies that come to similar conclusions — a report on social mobility by the Center for American Progress and a 2007 academic study by researchers at Kent State, Wisconsin and Syracuse. Here is how Professor Kathryn Wilson, associate professor of economics at Kent State University, summarizes the main finding of the latter study: “People like to think of America as the land of opportunities. The irony is that our country actually has less social mobility and more inequality than most developed countries” (link).
A pure meritocracy is a society in which specific social mechanisms distinguish between high-achieving and low-achieving individuals, assigning high-achieving individuals to desirable positions in society. A pure plutocracy is a society in which holders of wealth provide advantages to their children, ensuring that their adult children become the wealth-holders of the next generation.
http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2009/08/social-mobility.html
My Bold What proof do we have that the Elite is devolved or weak? Well look at how much the Racist GOP lie whether its its Rush Limbaugh, as Al Franken showed in Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations or Fox News as Al Showed in his O’Reliy book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right .
The Racist have to Lie to justify themselves to others constantly, you lie when the truth won’t get you what you want. The Superior People fear their Bush like kids might sink if every kid had the same chances to compete and access to good schools, food, healthcare etc.
By not allowing their Bushes to fail the Elite racists are letting their weaker stock not only to breed, but breed like they were Alpha Chimps hogging all the food, resources and the pick of the female chimps.
Imagine if a farmer let his weakest bulls go out to stud what would happen to the herd?
Just because the Bush family made a bunch of money/were studs generations ago does not mean they still are Studs.
Bush has proven that wrong.
The racist need only look at Obama debating the House Republicans to see that the Elite’s Best (it takes money to run for a House seat) gets spanked by a guy who actually earned his Harvard degree.
Every House Republican has a Congressional staff to research their questions. They all knew they would be on TV and that beating Obama with a question in a debate could make them the next President. The questions were not known by Obama in advance, there was no teleprompter Obama could read off of.
Yet still they the Elite got whooped. The racist need, the country needs to replace its so called Elite and the cronies who get rich telling that Elite what they want to hear I’m looking at you MainStreamMedia and you Chicago, Austrian economists.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/29/transcript-of-president-o_n_442423.html
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/44818
I’m guessing your so worried because your afraid you can’t compete if the playing field was level.:)
It’s great to see so many race hustlers fail so miserably in trying to defeat me. Again, I will stress the fact that you all miss the point of my argument. It doesn’t matter anyways, I and many of my libertarian friends stand with Rand and his family and you all can go to hell. The fact is, you all FAIL and therefore lose this one. Rand 1 Neoliberals 0.
Yes, I am a math tutor who was hired because I had already finished three fourths of my math major degree and now will apply to become a substitute teacher for Calculus. One of my friends was fired for not only incompetence, but also got fired because he failed to understand that the copy machine is not a toy. People get fired all the time for reasons that usually include incompetence or not contributing to the work. I wanted Bush fired, but I could not because the Democrats were too cowardly to accept Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment papers he proposed which I supported. I still think Bush is a war criminal and should be punished for what he did.
if you say I am wrong, it might be true.
if you say everyone else is wrong, it is probably you.
Rand Paul doesn’t want government telling people what to do, that is the white man’s job
I never said racism was not important, what I said was we have to talk about what candidates will do, not say. I agree with him that we must not repeal the Civil Rights act, but racism has to be defeated psychologically. Peace.
Thank you for the laugh. I enjoyed it. ;)
Seems like we should differentiate between “fired for cause” and “not ever hired because of the color of their skin”
Sorry, but I have to ask, was your friend fired for planting his sorry ass on the copy machine?
Yes, we do. It was great to see you again and we hope it doesn’t happen again.
We should include that Libertarians and Paul love freedom. But that does not include reproductive freedom for women. In cases of rape and incest, women who have abortions will be criminals if Paul has his sexist way. Libertarians will impose all their fundamentalist religious phony morality if they can.
One thing I don’t get about the Rand Paul bashing, are people trying to claim that he is somehow WORSE than the rest of the crazy Republicans?
Or are people merely saying that yes, he belongs in the Republican party.
The Republicans are right wing crazies but if I can get a few of them to vote against foreign wars, the war on drugs and nutty police state overreach then that’s a good thing.
Good point thats a deal breaker.
Yes, he got fired for doing that and for wasting so much paper on that.
I disagree with Rand on that one because I take the position that abortion should be decided by the woman who has the child and the doctor. Other than that, I think women should decide what’s good for their health.
If Paul is so great why has he spent the day trying to explain and walk back his statements of the last couple of days? Paul is a looney and is dangerous to this country. You need to grow up.
So…some poor shcmuck sat his sorry ass on the copy machine. I should leave it at that but…from your post:
Glad to hear this is some theoretical issue for you to “debate”. Some of us actually lived through that time and still live with it every day.
So…when I put out the sign in front of my business that says “no one named Rand can enter”…you’re good with that? Even it it’s the only place you can piss for another 50 miles?
Well, Rand Paul’s website says he’s for trying terrorists in military tribunals, doesn’t mention legalizing drugs at all, and that he is for the war in afghanistan.
AND he’s against social services of any kind and against abortion and against government regulation.
I don’t think we are going to get much help from Rand.
Rand Paul is racist without even thinking about it. But that’s not why I think he’s a douchebag. He thinks that it’s okay for private businesses to discriminate for any reason. Under his logic, a restaurant could decide that you’re not one of “their” customers and deny you food. Of course you wouldn’t want to eat there anyway since they would probably spit in it.
‘Liberals’ and ‘neoliberals’ sound the same but they mean very different things. You should look it up.
Let’s just suppose Paul isn’t a racist. He obviously is perfectly willing to let other people act out their racism. It doesn’t matter what he thinks. The result of electing him is to increase the range of racist behavior. Actions speak louder than words. He’s a racist in action. He is also a corporatist and anti-environment and anti-just about everything that might make the US a healthier place.
I still contend that libertarians who want to fulfill their socio-political wet-dream should just move, even if temporarily, to Somalia. It’s an entire country bereft of stable, functional government. No overreach there.
Of course you do have to deal with that other nasty thing that tends to crop up, warlords and militias running protection rackets completely unaccountable to anything except the market competition of the next-most brutal militia.
Though perhaps Somalia is too far of a reach for most folks. Why not just move off the grid? I’m deadly serious. It’s completely possible. I know dozens of people who live in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho who have no SS#, no birth-certificate, nothing. The government has no idea they exist, and they exist in sparse communities in the middle of nowhere. Why not just actually live like a libertarian? That’s the thing I don’t get. If you believe that every man is an island, it’s pretty damn easy with the vast amount of land and resources available in the U.S. to put that to the test, and just live life like that. I don’t understand the point of trying to infiltrate an institution that is specifically antithetical to that notion, the government, the public-trust, so that nobody else should be afforded the freedom to pursue their own prerogatives via the social compact.
If you want to live the libertarian paradise, move to the middle of fucking nowhere. It’s not that complicated. There’s plenty of nowhere to move to all over this giant country.
Libertarianism is fucking retarded as a practical measure. Full stop. The hypocrisy on free-markets vs. closed borders. The hypocrisy of corporate liberty vs. female liberty. The contradictions on gold vs. free-banking.
Perhaps someday libertarianism will go the way of monarchism, but for the time being it looks like that lame dinosaur is still limping along.
Thank you for playing, please come again and this time please try to make me laugh again. I still stand with Rand and that is that. I don’t want to hear whining from any of you so come back to play again. As Metallica’s song Holier Than Thou suggests:
ed2, some day you will be discriminated against. It may be a small thing but you will know it. Perhaps your clothes won’t be exactly right for the job interview or you won’t be tall enough or thin enough etc. but you will know it when it happens. You will be too young or too old or whatever and you’ll remember this diary and think about what you have said. I hope for your sake that the discrimination will be small but it might be huge. Remember.
Thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen. This has been another episode of Talking with a Libertarian. Please stay tuned for our next episode, ‘Going Galt, but not right now’.
Ohhhh! He shoots…He SCORES!
I don’t think you’re going to get a lot of support standing with Rand, Ed.
He is not what the nation needs and even though there are a lot of pissed off progressives and liberals out there, very very few are going to support the idea that we need less regulation of business to assure our liberty.
ed, in several of your replies here you say how you’re sticking with Rand, implying that those of us who are saying he’s a nutjob are trying to change your mind. We’re not. It’s you who are trying to change our minds, and while admiring your persistence, I must also wonder why you believe you’ve got a prayer. A Catholic priest wandering into a Baptist service would seem to have a better chance of winning converts in that environment than you do of winning them in this one.
Based on what you’ve posted on this diary and your others, I encourage you to stick with Rand. I think you were made for each other.
Here’s the problem. If Rand Paul is a libertarian, there is exactly zero reason for him to run for and hold high political office except to fundamentally undermine the entire purpose of that office. The office exists to act on the social compact for the service and protection of the public-trust.
If Rand Paul is a libertarian, then he doesn’t believe in that core functional tenet of governance. By attempting to undermine that social compact, and dismantle the service and protection of the public-trust he’s explicitly violating the freedom and liberty of those who seek to engage in that configuration of society and governance.
What’s more egregious about it is that, if Rand Paul is a libertarian, literally nothing is stopping him from living fully as a libertarian. Never paying another dime in taxes, never using a public road, never using technology originating in public research and development. All he has to do is find a suitably remote location anywhere in the country, and anonymize himself through obscurity.
More than that, just like his father, he’s a walking, talking set of logical contradictions. That in and of itself is thoroughly offensive to me, but I know logical consistency isn’t a high moral imperative for most people.
Bill, I have one word for you, FAIL. Next time try again. We need someone like Rand in office and people like you can whine all you want but me and all my libertarian friends will stand alongside him. End of story.