Rand Paul Losing the Historical Argument.

Over at the Moderate Voice, you can read an amazing dissection of Rand Paul's outrageously libertarian positions on the Civil Rights Act. Historians and the Cato Institute are NOT on Rand's side.

Sometimes, a straight news story about some outrageous thing a politician said or did sparks a larger conversation about underlying issues. That is what is happening with the news item about a contentious interview Rand Paul had with Rachel Maddow, in which he refused to back down from previous statements he had made opposing Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination in private accommodations on the basis of race, skin color, religion, or national origin.

AOL News asked three well-known libertarians for their thoughts on Rand Paul’s views on the private accommodations section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All three agreed that the key to an intelligent analysis of this issue is historical context: “I think Rand Paul is wrong about the Civil Rights Act,” libertarian Cato Institute
scholar Brink Lindsey wrote in an e-mail.