Rand Paul’s Right to Refuse Service to Anyone

Tea Party darling Rand Paul kicked a bit of dirt onto himself the other day when he challenged the 1964 Civil Rights Act as “too broad”. Specifically, Paul thinks that businesses should be able to discriminate in who they serve. For those too young to remember, before 1964 it was common for establishments in parts of the country to refuse to serve Blacks. Paul has since been trying the wipe the stupidity from his lips, but it ain’t gonna be easy on this one. He said it, and he believes it.

I can still remember, as a kid on our vacation to Yellowstone, my Dad telling me to keep an eye out for a Best Western Motel, because he knew they would serve Blacks. Even here in California, I periodically still see signs in the windows of businesses that say, “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”, and I wonder ‘what the hell are they thinking?’. To be fair, the establishment is often owned by an immigrant who came to this country after 1964, and is minimally educated to the DMV code, much less the US Constitution.

I once approached the immigrant owner of one of my favorite eateries to say, in a friendly manner, that US law granted him no such ‘right’ of refusal, as his sign indicated. He was inclined to brush me off until I stated that if someone complained about his behavior as indicated by the sign, the city had the actual ‘right’ to pull his business license and close him down (here). He removed the sign.

My point is that while Paul may be one racist idiot to many, he is not so far away from the sentiments and ignorance of many Americans – and this should give us pause and concern.

James C. Collier

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