Thursday, May 20, 2010

Rand Paul On 'Maddow' Defends Criticism Of Civil Rights Act, Says He Would Have Worked To Change Bill (VIDEO)

Rand Paul speaks like someone who has never had to deal with anything seriously in his entire life. For him, racism and discrimination are just abstractions to be debated philosophically, but not issues that are part of his lived experience. It's that weird mixture of white privilege and adolescent disengagement that you see in so many libertarians.

He's also so far off the map politically, he doesn't really seem to understand what laws do, or what governments are for. The state can only be oppressive, so therefore if racism existed in the past, it was because of government, not in spite of it. Therefore, in his view, it makes no sense that government could have actually been protecting rights by passing legislation that ensured equality. Government could not possibly affect the way that people viewed the cultural and institutional racism of the past. Instead, the Civil Rights Act was just a way for big government oppress business owners. Brilliant.

Also guns. Also deal with it locally.

It's like there's two versions of history running parallel to one another without actually touching. One where racism just magically disappears from the South through the power of anachronistic inevitability and happy thoughts, and another where government acts to destroy local businesses through (again, anachronistically) needless laws to desegregate lunch counters and provide wheel chair access. Why would we need laws for things that any right thinking person would be happy to provide? Business owners don't discriminate, governments do. So why would you need protection from a problem that doesn't actually exist? A dream is a wish your heart makes, and Rand Paul can solve all problems by wishing them away.

Wha-?