Rand Paul is More Right then Wrong.

Originally when the whole thing with Rand Paul's statement blew up, I really had no reason to say anything at the time, the subject while something that should be discussed didn't "interest" me at that moment, but after reading someone's opinion that Libertarianism (and encompassing Conservatism) are incapable of fixing the problems of things like racism or sexism (and you can include any other -isms if you want.) They believe that government can fix those things, the problem is it was progressive government, i.e. Woodrow Wilson, who did things like segregating the military, thought the Constitution was outdated, (the document not the ship,) imprisoning people for speaking out against the government in getting involved in WWI, as well as instituting several progressive policies which after his presidency resulted in the election of Warren G. Harding, which that race was about whether to continue Woodrow Wilson's progressive policies or to reject them. Need less to say the voters rejected progressivism.


As I pointed out above the progressive policies of Woodrow Wilson didn't favor the blacks very well, and as others have pointed out the Jim Crow Laws were state government laws passed by southern democrats. These Jim Crow Laws mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, these segregated places were public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks, it was the government that was forcing privet businesses to be segregated. And and often over looked fact was these laws also applied to black owned businesses, which meant blacks couldn't open businesses that whites could come into. Now, while in a whole the Civil Rights Act was good, it is the part on the privet businesses that is what is up to debate. Consider the story of Henry Perry who had a barbecue stand in Kansas City, and is considered the father of Kansas City barbecue, in a February 26th 1932 interview in a black owned newspaper he claimed a mixed patronage from all walks of life, rich or poor, black or white, they were all served equally no government to tell the whites to buy from him or to tell him that he couldn't serve whites. For more on that interview go here, and go down (or up) to the section Henry Perry the Barbecue King you will find it quite interesting.

I have in my personal experience seen that the racists and bigots don't go away, when in public they show one face and attitude and in private another when they think they are in safe company, just because the government tells them they can't be racists and bigots doesn't mean they won't, it means they do what all pests do go underground and hide waiting until it is safe to come out again. Racism has to be fought in the hearts and mines of those who are racists and bigots, if you take the police powers of government against them there will be those in that group bold enough to commit violence against those they hate and others.

Don't mistake this as me tolerating racists and bigots, I can't stand them, especially some who no mater what you show them they still cling to their hate like a marxist to antisemitism. It's just you can not change hearts with law the roads made against racism was not by the government it was by individuals who came to conclusions of the heart that changed the mind.

Finally, I have to agree with Rand Paul and John Stossel on this issue, while I often disagree with Libertarians on some issues as a Conservative this is one where I can agree, when it comes to a private business Government should be involved as little as possible. I don't want to see people turned away because of religious, skin color, gender, ethnicity or any other excuse but just as we get angry at the liberals and progressives when they want to force us to accept behaviors we don’t
like. Liberals and Progressives are like the Borg of Star Trek they want a collective not a nation of individuals, and with a nation of individuals you will have people with views you may not like. But Tolerance is not about liking the thing you are tolerating, it doesn't mean you have to like it. And to finish with, may I point out that the Liberals and Progressives aren’t very tolerant of Conservative and Libertarian views. In a sense this applies to the concept of over regulation, some regulation and laws are fine but the more regulations you pile on the more you impede the businesses of America from reacting swiftly when the market changes.

Solomon.

P.S. One concept that I find disturbing is the idea of fighting one social poison with another, it never really works and often makes the problem stagnant or worse grow, take the Soviet Union as the perfect example, they replaced one problem with another.