Rand Paul Steps In It
Well, Rand Paul really stepped deep into the muck yesterday with his painful waffling about the Civil Rights Act. The right wing blogosphere is in full-throated excuse-making mode this morning. Even Dave Weigel is desperately trying to spin this as being a “principled libertarian” stance, because as a libertarian himself he’s evidently overjoyed to have someone like Paul elected.
Paul’s position that he wouldn’t have voted for the Civil Rights Act is a principled stance. And that principle can be succinctly stated: property rights take precedence over human rights.
This is a debate that’s been settled in this country for decades. And now the far right is making it an issue again.
Rand Paul isn’t responsible for those who support him, of course, but this is the reason why the John Birch Society and the neo-Nazis at Stormfront are celebrating Rand Paul’s victory.
And this is far from Rand Paul’s only extreme view. He’s also an anti-abortion fanatic, a supporter of the absolutist Human Life Amendment which will deny women abortions under all circumstances. How does he square this with libertarianism? And more importantly, how do those who are making excuses for his bigotry because of their own libertarian beliefs (such as Dave Weigel) reconcile this?
This isn’t libertarianism, it’s far right John Birch Society-influenced paranoia masquerading as libertarianism. And it’s fooling a lot of people who ought to know better.