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Rand Paul And the Civil Rights Act of ’64

I won’t even bother to link this nonsense, but we’ve all seen in the last several days the issue surrounding Rand Paul and his comments regarding the 1964 civil rights act. You remember, the bill that the Republicans rammed through and Democrats fought against back in the day? Yeah that one. Well, anyway, let me start my commentary on this matter by stating my own position:

Is it both hunky and dory for Woolworth’s Lunch Counter to decline to serve minorities?

No.

But in truth, I don’t consider that Rand Paul, as much of a nutball as I consider him to be,  is saying it’s OK, either.

What Rand Paul is saying here, …. and I think, correctly…  is that there is no constitutional basis for the government to be a solution to that particular issue. That’s a firm, and fairly clear cut, small government, libertarian stand, not particularly a racist one.  The trouble for liberals is they can’t argue the point on the merits of it, or their lack of them. So they break out the label gun.

Understand me here… In the liberal lexicon there’s very few charges that are considered worse than ‘racist’. And the left uses this charge every time they have no other tools to bring to bear.  The  pattern is so predictable as to be laughable. Whenever someone comes out against government programs for this or that minority, anyone who questions them is labeled a racist before the echo from the question dies.

Now… that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele isn’t comfortable with the views expressed by Rand Paul [1] is understandable and an example of what I’ve been saying about what is wrong with the Republican party for some time now.  They’ve fallen victim to the ‘cultural outcome’ perspective rather than the constitutional perspective. Which is perhaps why the government- imposed ‘solution’ of the civil rights act of ’64 was pushed by the Republicans back in the day.

As to the success or failure of such government-based attitudes about minorities, Steel should perhaps look at the long-term implication of our government only wanting to help the American Indian.  Those well meaning, yet disastrous results are of a piece with what has since happened with the American Black, the American Hispanic and so on.  This is exactly why our founders never gave government the right and responsibility of such programs, within the confines of the constitutional government they left us..

What needed to be changed was not government, but minds. Consider the worse of the sage:

“Well, they passed a lack back in 64

to give those who ain’t got a little more

But it only goes so far

‘Cause the law don’t change another’s mind

when all he sees at the hiring time

is a line on a colored bar”

But I suppose I’ll be called a racist for pointing these things out.