If I were writing speeches or talking points for Rand Paul:
Q: Would you vote to repeal the Civil Rights Act or the Americans With Disabilities Act?
A: Look. I have a principled stance in favor of the free market and against government interference in a properly functioning market. We don’t have a properly functioning market yet. We didn’t have that from the beginning of our nation. What people have called “America’s Original Sin” - slavery - distorted the market for many years, certainly until the 1960’s and the time of the Civil Rights Act.
When appropriate policies are implemented, and when we have shed the hangover of history, there will be no need for the Civil Rights Act. Which raises the question: Have we now, since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, advanced so far that it’s unnecessary? I’m sorry to say (for the scandal-mongers out there): Maybe. Maybe not.
But no matter what, the Civil Rights Act is NOT the most important intrusion of government into the business of the people. There are others - low hanging fruit, if you will - that we should tackle BEFORE we worry about the Civil Rights Act.
Take for example, the Kelo decision. Here we have a clear injustice - a taking of private land to further enrich greedy speculators. Outrageous! And furthermore, outrageous in a way that benefits people like me: rich, white, connected. Let us do away with that first, as a way of moving toward a true libertarian society, one in which people act on rational economic principles, one in which Martin Luther King’s firm belief that people should act according to the content of one’s character would make every listener say “well, duh” because that’s so obviously right and the way everyone already behaves.
Once we arrive at a place where Kelo is inconceivable, the Civil Rights Act will be unnecessary and we can all agree to discard it because it serves no purpose. In the meantime, let’s not get bogged down in hypotheticals. Ask me about particular laws and court decisions I would want to see repealed today.
Note: these are not my opinions.
