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If theres one thing most political media can agree upon its that Senator Rand Paul is as authentic as it comes. Hes a man of principle who doesnt bend with the wind just because its politically expedient to do so. Indeed, hes bravely running for the nomination for president in the Republican Party despite his courageous willingness to confront both the establishment and the base on the hard issues.

Well, it is true that he has waffled somewhat on foreign policy, which is supposedly one of the libertarian bedrock principles, but hey, hes running for president and he needs to assure Republican voters that he will defend America from the bad people. Surely, hell return to his isolationist principles just as soon as he is elected. Hes alsodone a little plagiarizing.

And now, a book he wrote called The Tea Party Goes to Washingtonhas come under renewed scrutiny,owing to the fact that it includes one fake quote from Thomas Jefferson after another. This is socommon on the right, however, that people hardly even mention it anymore. Aside from sending outchain emails every yearwith a bunch of bogus quotes that make the founders sound like they were early members of the John Birch Society, they haveanointed a known hoaxter by the name of David Barton as their official Founders historian.

In a rare moment of right wing integrity, Bartons publisher withdrew his book once it was discovered that hed just made stuff up. No word on whether Pauls publisher will feel compelled to do the same. But then, they werent bothered when it was revealed that Pauls Tea Party book was co-written bya close associate by the name of Jack Hunter, also known as The Southern Avenger, so why would this little problem cause them to have second thoughts about distributing the book now?

Youll remember that the Southern Avenger was a right-wing shock jock and member of the League of the South, a racist group which is known for such statements by its leading members as,somebody needs to say a good word for slavery where in the world are the Negroes better off today than in America?(Tea party hero and Sovereign Citizen Cliven Bundy had similar thoughtsabout whether African Americans were better off as slaves picking cotton.) Hunter himself left quitea trail of racist sentimentbehind including musing that he thought Abraham Lincoln was one of the worst figures in American history.

Yes,like his father before him, Rand Paulhas consorted with a number of neo-Confederate white supremacists(is there any other kind). For instance, aside from his Southern Avenger buddy,back in 2010his spokesman had to resign when it was discovered that his MySpace page was riddled with racist rantings from friends and acquaintances which hed not bothered to remove.

Paul has disassociated himself from these racists once its been revealed (althoughhe has agreed to appear at events featuring them). After all, hes a man of principle and we all know that he wants nothing more than to reach out to the African American community and try to persuade them that the libertarian philosophy is one which will benefit them the most. Its a little bit embarrassing to have white supremacists in the inner circle. It might even remind people of what Jonathan Chaitpointed outat the time Hunter was unmasked as the Southern Avenger:

Now, obviously, you can like Ron and Rand Paul without being the slightest bit racist. Very, very few Rand Paul fans are glad Abraham Lincoln was shot. At the same time, the logic of southern white supremacy and the logic of libertarianism run along very similar lines. They both express themselves in terms of opposition to federal power and support for states rights.

Segregation was in large part a policy of government, not the free market. But it took intrusive federal power to destroy segregation. Barry Goldwater expressed his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act in classically race-neutral, anti-big-government terms. The deep connection between the Pauls and the neo-Confederate movement doesnt discredit their ideas, but its also not just an indiscretion. Its a reflection of the fact that white supremacy is a much more important historical constituency for anti-government ideas than libertarians like to admit.

So, perhaps itsnotjust low taxes and regulations that lure libertarians into joining the Republican Party even though its full of theocrats, authoritarians and militaristic imperialists. Oras Rand Paul famously put itwhen he accidentally behaved like the truth-telling iconoclast everyone pretends he is:

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What Rand Paul's libertarian hypocrisy reveals about the ...