Rand Paul has the freedom to read a history book, and he should use it ASAP

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to do a story for the college’s magazine about an alum who’d written a book about his time as a state attorney in Florida during the Civil Rights Movement – in particular, the battle to integrate public facilities in St. Augustine in the summer of 1964. It was fascinating to hear a first-hand account from someone who’d been intimately involved with the protests and counter-protests of the SCLC and KKK in America’s oldest city.

One of the SCLC’s targets was a motor lodge with a public pool, neither of which allowed black customers. Another was St. Augustine’s public beach, where police literally chased black children out of the ocean during their “swim-ins”. The people who tried to physically integrate these places weren’t just kicked out; they were jailed for trespass, even shot at in their homes and churches.

The period of the Civil Rights Movement is full of stories like this. These incidents – which didn’t take place that long ago – are a big part of the reason that I could never be a libertarian in the mold of Rand Paul.

Paul (son of Rep. Ron Paul) has had an eventful week. He won the Kentucky Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, gave an interview to NPR where he vacillated on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and has now spent the rest of the week explaining that, while he “abhors” racism and probably would’ve voted for the law, he disagrees in principle with federal laws (also including the Americans with Disabilities Act) that tell privately owned businesses what to do. (I’m sure it was taxing, but wussing out on “Meet the Press” is just silly.)

Paul’s libertarianism has its appeal. But the “vote with your dollars” argument only works for people who HAVE the dollars, not to mention the freedom to use them without having to worry about the Klan fire-bombing their home. I don’t think Paul is a racist, but I do think he’s in desperate need of a history lesson.

The Civil Rights Act – debated, endlessly filibustered and finally passed during the same summer that the St. Augustine police were keeping the world safe for all-white swimming pools – has as its legal basis the Constitution’s interstate commerce clause. If you’re the owner of a hotel, gas station, restaurant or any other business serving people traveling for business, then you can’t discriminate. (Well, you can, but there’s now a legal basis to sue you.) In other words, it’s an infringement on the federal government’s right to guarantee safe interstate travel if everyone can’t find a place to stay, eat, pee, etc.

This is probably not something you think is an issue if you’re not one of those people who, because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc., ever has to worry about finding a place that will welcome you. But it was a very real concern for African Americans (ever hear of sundown towns?), and unfortunately still IS an issue for too many people. (And Sen. Lindsey Graham agrees with me!)

The libertarian fantasy world aside, there is no such thing as a totally private business. Did you get a loan to start your restaurant? Do you get tax credits for your business? If it catches on fire, do you put it out with your own water hose (which is of course fed by the well that you dug with your own two hands)? Is your restaurant’s safety enforced by local police? (The sheriff in St. Augustine in the 60s was a member of the Klan, which I’m sure had no impact whatsoever on how black travelers “trespassing” in an all-white restaurant were treated.)

The Civil Rights Act may have been primarily concerned with racial discrimination, but there’s no doubt that it helps all of us. With no Civil Rights Act, and no later laws built on its precedent, what’s to stop a bank from refusing me a mortgage loan because I’m a woman, or not extending student loans to women or minorities? You can’t pull yourself up by the bootstraps if you can’t afford boots.

Or, as Sen. John Kyl put it: “I hope [Paul] can separate the theoretical and the interesting and the hypothetical questions that college students debate until 2 a.m. from the actual votes we have to cast based on real legislation here.”