From the Progressive Democrats of America Website:
pdamerica.org
As observed by Juan González of Democracy Now! (video below), Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, set off a "firestorm" of controversy when he criticized those portions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act which applied to private businesses, implying, when he appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, that the 46-year old federal legislation infringed on the First Amendment rights of private businesses.
RACHEL MADDOW: Should—Woolworth lunch counters should have been allowed to stay segregated?...
RAND PAUL:...I don’t believe in any discrimination. I don’t believe that any private property should discriminate either...But what you have to answer, when you answer...is an abstract, obscure conversation from 1964...you have to say then that you decide the rules for all restaurants. And then, do you decide that you want to allow them to carry weapons into restaurants?
As observed by Prof. Blair Kelley on Democracy Now, Rand Paul's public/private distinction bears an eerie resemblance to pro-segregationist arguments that older Americans like myself can all too well remember. Amy Goodman discusses a fact, first reported by the blog barefoot and progressive, that "Rand Paul’s former communications director, Christopher Hightower...resigned in December after his MySpace page was found to have a post declaring 'Happy N-Word Day'—but it used the full word—and showing a photo of a lynching around the time of the federal Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday."
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