In which I'm in agreement with Dan Riehl.

Me:

But in any case, “Rand Paul isn’t a racist” is a straw man. Paul’s position, that government shouldn’t have the authority to regulate private businesses, is, to put it mildly, fucking crazy. And that’s why Paul’s in trouble.

Does Paul think Philip Morris should be able to pay children a nickel an hour to make cigarettes twelve hours a day? Does he think BP should be able to drill however and wherever they want? Does he think grocery stores should be able to sell tainted food? Does he think drug companies should be able to sell unsafe medicines? Does he think Wall Street should be able to sell whatever subprime crap they want — and then bet against it? [...]

I mean hey, if your kid dies from taking bad cough syrup — you just won’t buy that brand any more — and the manufacturer will go out of business. The market works! Problem solved.

Riehl:

And if you think Weigle is helping here, think, again, because Paul's logic is politically indefensible on a very grand scale.

Paul believes, as many conservatives believe, that the government should ban bias in all of its institutions but cannot intervene in the policies of private businesses.

Hey, you want to import lead-painted toys from China? Go for it. Your bad, because you'll go bankrupt after enough children get sick, mentally ill, or die. Great. Ghetto kids can now go back to eating lead-based paint chips, it's Independence Day!!

Should government be regulating food? Why bother. Once people figure out your burgers are horse meat, or contain harmful bacteria, they'll go to Burger King, instead.

Redstate and others repeatedly lied in saying that Paul is a Conservative, when at best he might be considered a throw back paleo-con. But actually he's a Libertarian, an ideology that has never formed a working formula for governing a contemporary society.

Scary.