Posted on 08/14/2014 4:22:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are weighing in on the violence in Ferguson, Missouri, staking out ground on a racially charged issue ahead of their possible 2016 presidential bids.
In a highly personal Time op-ed, Paul (R-Ky.) bluntly connected race to the treatment of African-Americans who have gathered in Ferguson since police killed teenager Michael Brown. Paul said that when he was young, he might have “smarted off” but he “wouldn’t have expected to be shot.”
“Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them,” Paul wrote. “This is part of the anguish we are seeing in the tragic events outside of St. Louis, Missouri. It is what the citizens of Ferguson feel when there is an unfortunate and heartbreaking shooting like the incident with Michael Brown.”
Paul, who has tried to broaden the GOP’s appeal to African-Americans, also joined Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and other leading Democrats in calling for the demilitarization of police forces in Ferguson, who have appeared heavily armed and used tear gas to disperse heated protests.
“There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response. The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action,” Paul wrote. “Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies.”
Cruz was more measured than Paul, calling the situation “tragic” and chastising police for arresting two reporters covering the city’s tension. The Texas Republican called for an end to the “unrest” in the city and urged demonstrators to reject violence.
“Together, we should all mourn the loss of life in Ferguson, Missouri, and work to keep our communities safe and free. Police officers risk their lives every day to keep us safe, and any time a young man loses his life in a confrontation with law enforcement, it is tragic,” Cruz said in a Facebook statement. “Civil liberties must be protected, but violence is not the answer. Once the unrest is brought to an end, we should examine carefully what happened to ensure that justice is served.”
Both Paul and Cruz lean libertarian on issues like criminal justice reform and government surveillance — and each found examples in Ferguson of government overreach in both areas.
Cruz criticized the detention of reporters Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post on Wednesday. The two journalists were arrested at a McDonald’s in Ferguson on Wednesday night in a high-profile fashion that has sparked heated reactions toward the police and the news media.
“Reporters should never be detained — a free press is too important — simply for doing their jobs,” Cruz said.
And through the lens of Ferguson, Paul said the civil rights and law enforcement communities’ posture towards U.S. citizens has now reached a “near-crisis point.”
“When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury—national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture—we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands,” Paul said.
Wonder if Rand has any idea why that's the case?
bull. the kid did something, and got shot.
Cruz' response limits judgment to only those things known to have happened (e.g., reporters arrested) and otherwise rightly asks for restraint...until we know what actually happened.
Which is the more presidential?
Did you notice, though, that it wasn’t Ted Cruz who buddied up with McCaskill? And who says the investigation, run by Eric Holder, will come within miles of the truth?
He’s an egotist like his father. He’ll never leave.
See my #8.
I could go for that.
How many times in the past 50 years have "WHITE" people in America attempted to redress their grievances against THE STATE by rioting, looting, burning, burgling and robbing PRIVATE PROPERTY?
How many times in the past 50 years have "BLACK" people in America attempted to redress their grievances against THE STATE by rioting, looting, burning, burgling and robbing PRIVATE PROPERTY?
Back in the Jurassic, when you were a youth, you would not have been shot for mouthing off to a cop. However, my good Doctor, had you wrestled with a cop for his gun, (which is alleged by some to have occurred) you damn well would have been shot.
So until we get some straight stories here, why don't you and Barry just STFU. Mp
As such he cannot be the man to lead us out of the hash our society currently finds itself in, a bloody mess of the Left's making.
Randy is "acting stupidly." Again.
Completely agree.
Look at him, he’s even teaming up with leftists to get his PC face front and center.
Rand Paul was born in 1963. You may be thinking of Ron Paul. Ron was born in 1935.
Yes. You're right in stating a militarized police force will target patriots who stand against tyranny. However, Ferguson is not the model of such a conflict. If the officer had been black and the thug a white kid? This is just a black thing going on.
Have any cell phone videos showed up yet? Why not? Seems everyone wants to video contacts with the law. Perhaps the videos show the police making a right move.
In that case, I have boots older than that wise-aSS kid. No wonder he is making such stupid remarks.
LOL! I hear you.
Rand the Panderer
He even seems oblivious to the left/media cabal’s true intention in this Fergeson situation, ginning up the black vote in order to save the senate in November.
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