bobbyw24
06-08-2010, 07:47 AM
A political gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth. So when GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul discussed with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow "his belief in a limited government that should not force private businesses to abide by civil rights law," the media's gaffe alarm went off.
The fact is that liberals have got us trained. You'd think that the whole point of non-discrimination laws is to stop the government from discriminating on the basis of race or sex. If private businesses discriminate, it's ugly, but it's not unjust. But when governments do it, you get Jim Crow. Or political correctness.
Under liberal instruction, in today's America, private businesses must not discriminate against protected groups, but governments may flexibly discriminate in their favor -- as the mood takes them.
SNIP
For now, conservatives do not have the power to reverse the injustice of liberal race laws. The only weapon we have is shame, just like lawyer Joseph Welch, when he shamed Sen. Joe McCarthy all those years ago. "Have you no sense of decency, liberals, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
In their dealings with Sen. McCarthy, liberals understood the power of shame. So why can't they be content with shaming private businesses that discriminate against their favorite client group du jour?
The answer is power. What is the point of power unless you use it? What's the point of cultural power unless you convert it to law, so that you can smite your opponents with the power of the state?
We are seeing this power-lust in the developing train wreck of the BP oil spill. The first priority for the Obamas seems to be criminal proceedings rather than cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico and the wetlands of Louisiana.
The conservative approach to politics is different. Conservatives believe that most social problems should be solved not by government action but by social pressure. Better to shame a businessman into serving African-Americans than throwing him in jail.
Maybe in his clumsy way, Rand Paul has fired the first shot in the great battle of the next generation. It is the battle against cruel, corrupt liberal injustice.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/06/the_rand_paul_gaffe_and_libera.html
The fact is that liberals have got us trained. You'd think that the whole point of non-discrimination laws is to stop the government from discriminating on the basis of race or sex. If private businesses discriminate, it's ugly, but it's not unjust. But when governments do it, you get Jim Crow. Or political correctness.
Under liberal instruction, in today's America, private businesses must not discriminate against protected groups, but governments may flexibly discriminate in their favor -- as the mood takes them.
SNIP
For now, conservatives do not have the power to reverse the injustice of liberal race laws. The only weapon we have is shame, just like lawyer Joseph Welch, when he shamed Sen. Joe McCarthy all those years ago. "Have you no sense of decency, liberals, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
In their dealings with Sen. McCarthy, liberals understood the power of shame. So why can't they be content with shaming private businesses that discriminate against their favorite client group du jour?
The answer is power. What is the point of power unless you use it? What's the point of cultural power unless you convert it to law, so that you can smite your opponents with the power of the state?
We are seeing this power-lust in the developing train wreck of the BP oil spill. The first priority for the Obamas seems to be criminal proceedings rather than cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico and the wetlands of Louisiana.
The conservative approach to politics is different. Conservatives believe that most social problems should be solved not by government action but by social pressure. Better to shame a businessman into serving African-Americans than throwing him in jail.
Maybe in his clumsy way, Rand Paul has fired the first shot in the great battle of the next generation. It is the battle against cruel, corrupt liberal injustice.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/06/the_rand_paul_gaffe_and_libera.html