Rand Paul won the Republican primary for the Senate seat in Kentucky and he botched it in an interview with Rachel Maddow. Now I am not likely to agree with Rachel Maddow on most issues, but she is no Keith Olbermann who will somehow call Rand the worst person in the World and find some way of connecting Paul's gaffe to Bill O'Reilly.

Rand Paul then reverses himself, but the damage is done. Now, I admire Barry Goldwater for many reasons, and he will ultimately be vindicated in history, as a principled and genuine conservative who felt every "good Christian should give Jerry Falwell a swift kick in the ass." Barry Goldwater was wrong in that issue and it was a big issue he was wrong on. Lyndon Bane Johnson used these events and with other manipulations won in a landslide, but thankfully the Vietnam War destroyed him and he only stole oxygen from our atmosphere for another 9 years. Thankfully he only sponged his pension for a little more than four years.

While Lyndon Johnson may have been credited with the 1964 Civil Rights bill and didn't sign the Southern Manifesto, but he was in his heart a racist and one of the crassest people to ever slither into the Oval Office. Barry Goldwater was a naive man who didn't understand racism and some of his failings were due to his naivete and his environment, but he did support the 1957 Civil Rights bill which LBJ only supported to gain power as a national figure and be JFK's VP, and let's not forget who's home state JFK was killed in.

Rand Paul made a colossal failure in failing to address the evils of Jim Crow laws, which are even evident in Bacon-Davis as labor laws were made to protect white union labor form minority competition. The use of federal power in the 1964 Civil Rights Act is a loaded gun and there are times when that is the only solution. To support such power with total solidarity is worse than Goldwater's misguided opposition as one should be reluctant about using federal authority even for a good cause, but there are times when it is necessary to use. While such power should be used sparingly, there are clear cases when it needs to be used. The Tenth Amendment is a part of our Bill of Rights and an absolute right, but the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are also part of our Constitution and the Tenth Amendment does not favor giving any state the right to trample on individual liberties, and in such cases as the deep south in that time, the rights of individuals were at stake. Barry Goldwater was born in 1909 and the CRA of 1964 was a new law being proposed so he had an excuse. Rand Paul didn't. This may not end his chances as Joe Biden proves you can say ignorant things and still get ahead. The progressives are sharpening their blades and will use Rand Paul to go after the Libertarians and no doubt Alan "the Orlando bully" Grayson may try to get ran Paul's medical license suspended, so Rand Paul will need to wise up.


Finally David Boaz comes up with a good counter in Reason magazine about some who can have an understandable nostalgia for times past, and hell there is a lot I like about the 1880s, but I don't think I'd want to live back then. I do like their music and formal wear without a doubt and I think the affluence in this country post WWII has had a very corrosive effect, but this can be solved by parents not spoiling their children.