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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat makes Rand Paul strange? Or...why it's tough f/ libertarian to be elected president
Senator Rand Paul believes that vaccinating children should be up to the parents, an increasingly unpopular view after recent outbreaks of measles, mumps and other diseases. And throwing a newts eye of quack science into the vat, the Kentucky Republican promotes the myth that these shots put children at risk.
The political results have been toil and trouble.
Its not easy being a politician and a principled libertarian. One who believes in the primacy of individual freedom often takes stances far from the mainstream. It is the true libertarians lot to be unconventional, to bravely accept unwanted consequences in the name of liberty. By not going that extra philosophical mile and adding junk science to the mix Paul comes off as merely weird.
He was already fighting blowback when he ventured into an interview with CNBCs Kelly Evans.
Well, I guess being for freedom would be really unusual, he responded to a question about whether vaccinations should be voluntary. I dont understand
why that would be controversial.
Does he not? Then he again gave credence to crazy talk of healthy children ending up with profound mental disorders after being vaccinated.
When the chat moved to taxes and Evans challenged some of his statements, he shushed her as though she were a little girl. Calm down a bit here, Kelly, he said.
Clearly, it wasnt Kelly who needed calming.
By the end, Paul had accused Evans of being argumentative and blamed the media for distorting positions he had left purposely vague. Not his finest hour.
A real libertarian wanting his partys presidential nomination has only two choices:
1) Come clean and acknowledge the cost side of your beliefs. If you think parents have the right not to vaccinate their children, agree that more Americans might come down with preventable diseases as a result. Provocative, perhaps, but honest.
2) If you dont want that controversy tied around your neck, say that you have changed your mind on vaccinations and now hold that they should be required. Not totally honest but at least coherent.
Put into practice, libertarianism can make a mess. If parents have the right to endanger others by not getting their children immunized, why cant individuals decide whether theyre too drunk to drive?
Paul does say that its a good idea to have ones children vaccinated. Yes, and its a good idea to drive while sober.
Libertarian purity led Paul to question a key provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act some years ago. He argued that the law interferes with a private business owners right to discriminate.
Paul said he abhors racism, and we have no reason to doubt him. But his position, though principled, would have left the disaster of Jim Crow intact.
On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow asked Paul this: Do you think that a private business has a right to say, We dont serve black people?
His answer meandered along a familiar path. Private individuals have a right to hold hateful views, Paul responded, but he resented the question because it implied that he shares them. Actually, the question could not have been more straightforward.
Paul gets credit for letting the liberal Maddow interview him. And his libertarianism on other issues for example, his opposition to the war on drugs serves him well.
But he does himself no good by continually throwing smoke bombs at questioners trying to pin him down changing the subject and accusing them of mischaracterizing his position. If Paul thinks the price of individual freedom is worth paying, he should concede what that price is.
Otherwise, he ends up where he is, stirring a boiling cauldron of weird politics.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/makes-rand-paul-strange/
Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com.
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KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Same with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.
Siwsan
(26,289 posts)Real strange.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)who want to be able to smoke weed legally while they're watching porn.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)The record shows Paul has clearly been a libertarian of convenience when it suits him, and nothing more...
madville
(7,412 posts)Charlie Crist lost the Governor election here to Rick Scott last year maybe because of the Libertarian candidate.
Head to head polling showed Crist +1 to +2. Polling with the Libertarian candidate in the mix usually had them a tie or Scott +1.
It had been speculated that the Libertarian's pro-marijuana platform took a percent or two from Crist, especially with the medical marijuana initiative on the ballot.