Matt Welch on Rand Paul, the Tea Party, and Racism

The Tea Party was commonly portrayed upon its arrival on the
national scene as a racist spasm against a black president. Sen.
Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the leading member of the 2010 Tea Party
class of elected officials—and he did nothing to help against
allegations of racism back then. First came his infamous
post-election interview with Rachel Maddow, in which the
senator-elect bumbled through his reservations about-and ultimate
support for-the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Then came the July 2013
revelation that a key Paul staffer (who soon resigned) had a past
as a pro-Confederate shock jock. For consumers who get their
political news from MSNBC or The Huffington Post, the
narrative was simple: “Rand Paul,” as Bill Moyers put it this
April, “has a race problem.”

But classifying the Kentucky senator—and the movement within the
GOP he represents—as crazy and racist is misguided,
argues Reason Editor Matt Welch writes. The same Tea
Party wave that was tarred as racist is now contributing toward a
criminal justice reform movement that stands on the precipice of
rolling back the biggest civil rights violations of the last four
decades. When those days of liberation come, it will be the
libertarian right and the progressive left who will deserve the
most credit.

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