Rand Paul is trying to explain his libertarianism. His recent comments on whether he'd have supported the Civil Rights Act if he were a legislator in 1964 (he wouldn't in the private sector) have gotten the Republican candidate for Senate in Kentucky in a lot of trouble.
He isn't a racist himself, he insists, but rather believes that the founding fathers' intent was to allow business owners the right to be. If their establishment wants to be prejudicial, then let them -- and if the market punishes them for it, that will be all the incentive they need to remedy things.
In the public sphere, Paul would argue that the government must absolutely adhere to the guidelines of the Civil Rights Act. But in the private sector, the government shouldn't dictate how a private enterprise hires or serves people.
It'd be great if things actually worked that way. But if this were how the system worked, Paul would effectively be advocating murder.
That may be a harsh statement to accept, but imagine if Paul's Utopian, libertarian paradise came true. Private companies would be allowed to discriminate on any basis, simply because they didn't agree with a person's beliefs, or even based on a person's skin color.
We tend to forget in this country that medicine is privatized. Hospitals are privatized. Imagine, living in that libertarian dreamworld, if a black person were in a potentially fatal car accident in a rural, predominantly white area (the kind where Confederate flags still fly proudly).
Imagine this person being taken to a private hospital, only to discover this was a whites only hospital. The black hospital -- they'd probably use a different word for "black" -- was ten miles the other way. And don't bother hopping in that ambulance again...we own that, too. We're currently working on firing the guy who brought you here, who responded to your 911 call, because he should have known better and let that "other" hospital deal with it.
Yes, it sounds like a terrible, and perhaps exaggerated, idea of what COULD happen. A doctor's first rule is, of course, do no harm. But what about hospital administrators? They have no rule like this -- and they can run their business however they like.
They could get sued in this situation, of course, but if I'm understanding Paul's rhetoric correctly, they couldn't face any criminal charges for effectively carrying out this man's death sentence.
And this is why libertarianism won't work: at times, government intervention isn't preferable, but just damn HUMANE. Discrimination isn't acceptable -- a person should be hired because they are qualified, not because they look like you. A person shouldn't be promoted because they're one of the "good ol' boys," but because he OR she has the qualities necessary to lead.
Racism is a constitutionally protected right that an individual holds. But a place of business -- being part of the commerce of the United States -- has no right to bar certain people their rights to do business with them if the U.S. government so desires it.
We must reject the libertarian ideas of Rand Paul, and instead opt for a society where we treat everyone equally. Doing so isn't just beneficial economically, but socially as well.
He isn't a racist himself, he insists, but rather believes that the founding fathers' intent was to allow business owners the right to be. If their establishment wants to be prejudicial, then let them -- and if the market punishes them for it, that will be all the incentive they need to remedy things.
In the public sphere, Paul would argue that the government must absolutely adhere to the guidelines of the Civil Rights Act. But in the private sector, the government shouldn't dictate how a private enterprise hires or serves people.
It'd be great if things actually worked that way. But if this were how the system worked, Paul would effectively be advocating murder.
That may be a harsh statement to accept, but imagine if Paul's Utopian, libertarian paradise came true. Private companies would be allowed to discriminate on any basis, simply because they didn't agree with a person's beliefs, or even based on a person's skin color.
We tend to forget in this country that medicine is privatized. Hospitals are privatized. Imagine, living in that libertarian dreamworld, if a black person were in a potentially fatal car accident in a rural, predominantly white area (the kind where Confederate flags still fly proudly).
Imagine this person being taken to a private hospital, only to discover this was a whites only hospital. The black hospital -- they'd probably use a different word for "black" -- was ten miles the other way. And don't bother hopping in that ambulance again...we own that, too. We're currently working on firing the guy who brought you here, who responded to your 911 call, because he should have known better and let that "other" hospital deal with it.
Yes, it sounds like a terrible, and perhaps exaggerated, idea of what COULD happen. A doctor's first rule is, of course, do no harm. But what about hospital administrators? They have no rule like this -- and they can run their business however they like.
They could get sued in this situation, of course, but if I'm understanding Paul's rhetoric correctly, they couldn't face any criminal charges for effectively carrying out this man's death sentence.
And this is why libertarianism won't work: at times, government intervention isn't preferable, but just damn HUMANE. Discrimination isn't acceptable -- a person should be hired because they are qualified, not because they look like you. A person shouldn't be promoted because they're one of the "good ol' boys," but because he OR she has the qualities necessary to lead.
Racism is a constitutionally protected right that an individual holds. But a place of business -- being part of the commerce of the United States -- has no right to bar certain people their rights to do business with them if the U.S. government so desires it.
We must reject the libertarian ideas of Rand Paul, and instead opt for a society where we treat everyone equally. Doing so isn't just beneficial economically, but socially as well.