Ron Paul, Rosa Parks, and Art Students
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul likes to portray himself as a consistent proponent of a libertarian philosophy. The truth is, though, that Ron Paul is a sometime libertarian who picks and chooses the time to get ideological.
Take, for example, Ron Paul’s treatment of Rosa Parks. Ron Paul chose to get libertarian on Rosa Parks back in 1999 when he was the only member of the House of Representatives to vote against awarding Rosa Parks the Congressional Gold Medal.
Why would Ron Paul vote against recognizing the work of Rosa Parks in bringing liberty to huge numbers of Americans living under the injustice of racial segregation? Ron Paul claimed that it was nothing personal against Rosa Parks, but in line with his libertarian principles, he just could not vote in favor of Congress giving Rosa Parks a Congressional Gold Medal. You see, Ron Paul explained, there’s nothing in the Constitution that authorizes Congress to award anyone a medal.
It would be one thing if Ron Paul’s slight against Rosa Parks were taken as a part of a consistent defense of a super-literal reading of the Constitution. However, the plain fact is that Ron Paul has supported congressional awards to other people, even though he wouldn’t do so for Rosa Parks. Why, just this year, Ron Paul congratulated 90 students from his congressional district who were competing for the Congressional Art Competition Award.
Now, the last time I read the Constitution, I didn’t see anywhere at all where Congress is authorized to give awards to high school students for making pretty pictures. Yet, Ron Paul didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with that. Ron Paul decided that, when it came to pandering to the voters in his home district, there was no need to get so literal in his reading of the Constitution.
That’s Ron Paul’s inconsistent libertarianism for you: Rosa Parks can’t get a congressional award, but high school students are welcome to their own congressional awards. Pardon me for being so blunt, but those are some pretty stupid priorities Ron Paul has got when it comes to when he gets snippy about congressional awards.
To be fair to Ron Paul, he does have one other excuse for voting against a Congressional Gold Medal for Rosa Parks. Ron Paul said it would cost too much. Ron Paul said that the expense of 30,000 dollars was just not worth it.
Do you know how the tax burden of 30,000 dollars divides up for each American citizen? One hundreth of one penny per citizen. Apparently, Ron Paul didn’t even think Rosa Parks was worth that much. Get a grip, Congressman Paul.
(Sources: Congressional Record: April 20, 1999; Ron Paul’s congressional web site, April 17, 2007)
Today in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Ron Paul stated that he greatly admired Rosa Parks, and said he made the offer of $100. Given everything Paul has said, he does not lie. If he offered the $100, it was not a fake offer. He has performed many medical procedures for people who could not pay. He refused the lucrative pension progam and returns some of his office budget to the treasury.
Is he God? Of course not. But does he get to explain his positions often in the mainstream media, no. Had congress excepted his offer to buy the medal themselves, and present it privately, he would have agreed. To accuse him of having a dark motive is to simply not know the man.
I can’t think of anyone else in Washington DC that is as principled as Ron. He tells it like he sees it. The rest are just pandering for votes. They are a bit like that Nifong prosecutor. The people who are against Ron are either ignorant of his true positions or have another agenda. Possibly the military industrial complex is paying them – but I have no proof. It’s difficult to see how they could hate Ron for standing up for something he believes in. It was surely quite easy to vote yes. I bet that had Ron been in congress when Rosa was protesting, Ron might very well have been the only one to vote that the laws that promoted discrimination were wrong. That’s the type of courage he has.
So big-spender Ron Paul offered a whole hundred dollars to commission an artist to do a likeness of Rosa Parks and strike a coin. Wasn’t that really white of him.
Fortunately, the rest of congress was not so shortsighted. They authorized the spending of $30 thousand from the sale of other medals to strike this medal and offer it to the public. The cost will be recouped through the sale of medals to the public. Now anyone, not just rich privileged doctors who are congressional bigshots, can buy the medal–not for $100 but for $38.
It sure does take a special kind of courage to vote against something that makes sense, then make up a lot of convoluted arguments for not doing the right thing.
Anyone who points that out must belong to the military industrial complex, or maybe the Illuminati, or the United Nations conspiracy.
Everyone other member of congress only had to donate $70 of his/her own. So Ron Paul offering to donate 150% of the required amount is actually pretty generous.
Yeah, right, Aaron, except he knew that no one would take him up on the offer, so it wasn’t generous at all.
It’s kind of like saying, “Hey, Congress! I’ll save you money by letting you have your next session at my house instead of in the Capitol Building! If you agree to my plan, I’ll pay for all your food all year long! Otherwise, I’ll have to stop paying my taxes!”
Generous? No. Slimy cover up for greed? Yes.
Ron Paul is just STUPID,he won’t protect our constitutional rights.
“Yeah, right, Aaron, except he knew that no one would take him up on the offer, so it wasn’t generous at all.
It’s kind of like saying, “Hey, Congress! I’ll save you money by letting you have your next session at my house instead of in the Capitol Building! If you agree to my plan, I’ll pay for all your food all year long! Otherwise, I’ll have to stop paying my taxes!â€
Generous? No. Slimy cover up for greed? Yes.”
Wow.. so much anger and hate, over such a small issue. And isn’t it sad that no one took him up on the offer?
Oh, and congrats on such a keenly thought out analogy. Wow, holding Congress at some douche’s house versus a hundred freakin dollars from people who make $160,000 annually?