Rand Paul, GOP Senate Candidate, Compares Himself to "Idealists" Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

GOP Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul compares himself to "idealists" like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.

Kentucky Tea Party senate candidate Rand Paul is now comparing himself to "idealists" like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and says smoking in restaurants is a "God-given liberty." Paul wrote an op-ed in the Bowling Green Daily News Saturday, in an attempt to explain his widely criticized belief that private businesses should be allowed to turn away customers because of their race. I find it absolutely comical that he compares himself to Dr. King, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Lysander Spooner and Lerone Bennett. Here's an excerpt from his op-ed:

I am unlike many folks who run for office. I am an idealist. When I read history I side with abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglas who fought for 30 years to end slavery and to integrate public transportation in the free North in the 1840s. I see our failure to end slavery for decade after decade as a failure of weak-kneed politicians. I cheer the abolitionist Lysander Spooner, who argued that slavery was unconstitutional 20 years before the Civil War. I cheer Lerone Bennet when he argues that the right of habeas corpus guaranteed in the Constitution should have derailed slavery long before the Civil War.

Only when the brave idealists, the abolitionists, finally provoked the weak-kneed politicians into action, did the emancipation proclamation come about. Our body politic has enough pragmatists, we need a few idealists.Segregation ended only after a great and momentous uprising by idealists like Martin Luther King Jr., who provoked weak-kneed politicians to action.......

My overriding principle is this: I believe in the natural right of all individuals to have their God-given liberty protected. And that’s why I believe the Civil Rights Act was necessary, and that I would have voted for it. I have long been a fan of what Martin Luther King wrote, “That an unjust law is any code that a numerical majority enforces on a minority but not make binding on itself.”

It's funny that he should compare himself to great men such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass, who never wavered in their beliefs that blacks deserved the same rights as others. I don't think either man would advocate allowing a private business to discriminate against anyone. Gee, I wonder what Rand Paul's position would be on the Woolworth's lunch counter that denied service to blacks? I also wonder   what his position would be on the establishments that had separate entrances, bathrooms, seating arrangements for blacks? From his comments on the Rachel Maddow show, they would be perfectly fine in his eyes because they are private entities and allowed to operate as they please. Reality check. Rand Paul isn't  a Libertarian. He's an extremist and the voters in Kentucky ought to think long and hard before casting a ballot in his favor.

Read more: Rand Paul on William Lloyd Garrison and Segregation | Ph.D. Octopus