My first reaction upon hearing his argument was that, if a restaurant in this day and age discriminated on the basis of race, it would go out of business within weeks, without the federal government lifting a finger. It would be shunned, boycotted, etc. Rightfully so.

However, this day and age is very different from the civil rights era. Local communities couldn’t be counted on to shun and/or boycott discriminatory businesses back then, because it was the mentality itself that needed changing…business practices were just a symptom. It took a big stick to make that change happen, and that stick took the form of the Civil Rights Act.

So while I followed Paul’s argument, I think he’s wrong, and Maddow was right to press him on it.