Posted on 03/13/2015 12:48:14 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) argued for criminal justice reform at a historically black college in Maryland on Friday, in what has become a staple of his message to young voters and minorities ahead of a potential presidential run in 2016.
Paul, who has frequently nodded to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s idea that there are “two Americas,” said in his speech at Bowie State University there’s one America where citizens are free to pursue their lives freely, and one where the federal government piles on with unnecessary laws, burdensome fines and regulations, and overly strict sentencing guidelines that contribute to keeping minority groups mired in poverty.
“Those of us who have jobs and have lived fairly privileged lives don’t know what it’s like to pay fines and penalties on top of other fines and how someone’s life can spiral out of control because of this,” Paul said.
The Kentucky Republican argued that civil forfeiture and mandatory minimum sentencing laws must be reformed, and highlighted bipartisan bills he’s worked on to expunge the records of former criminals that would make it easier for them to find work.
Paul said the laws currently on the books have created a situation that is “somewhat like segregation.”
“There’s a racial outcome to this,” Paul said. “I don’t think it’s intentional, but it’s real, and we should do something about it.”
Paul pointed to two recent racially charged incidents that have provoked protests across the country as evidence of there’s "an undercurrent of unease.”
Ferguson, Mo., has been on edge since a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager after an encounter on the street last year. The incident led to a Justice Department investigation that found widespread abuses within the criminal justice system there and ultimately led to the resignation of the police chief.
And in New York City, protests erupted after a grand jury declined to indict a police officer responsible for the choke-hold death of Eric Garner, who was suspected of selling loose cigarettes on the sidewalk.
Paul blamed politicians for creating laws that lead to police harassment, and unnecessary fines and arrests.
“What reason do we have for politicians telling the police they have to take someone down for selling a cigarette that’s not taxed,” he said. “There are other ways … I blame the politicians, they write these rules.”
Paul has been outspoken about the racial unease that he sees permeating the country, and he’s long been an advocate for scaling back drug laws and reforming the criminal justice system. The Kentucky Republican is a sponsor on a new bill that would legalize medical marijuana on the federal level for states that have legalized it.
Paul has also talked at length about expanding the GOP’s appeal to the next generation, and many believe his libertarian-leaning views on issues like drug policy and criminal sentencing reform could appeal to a younger set of voters.
No, but it’s a step.
No it isn’t, it is a costly diversion from the problem, just another argument by people pretending to care, but who actually are fixated on legalizing drugs.
If we legalized loosies, we’d have one less violation and we’d be encouraging voluntary transactions. Legalizing them would hurt nobody.
If loosies were legal, then the police wouldn’t have stopped Garner.
Why do you want to protect Big Government revenuers and Big Tobacco?
He is an asshole.
Garner was not killed because NYC makes it illegal to sell individual cigarettes, or because he was violating probation, or for unpaid tickets, or because he was jay walking, or for urinating in public, he died because of a policing problem that needs to be fixed.
To put it simply, "It's the government, stupid." As Reagan said, the government can't solve our problem. The government IS the problem.
While, I am with him on lots and lots of issues, (and frankly I don't see anything he is saying here as completely false) I find that reverse racism, the soft bigotry of low expectations and lawlessness in minority communities to be a huge problem. I guess he is planning on ignoring this problem for now.
He is obviously and openly pandering to the black vote here. Whether that is a good idea or a bad idea, I don't know. Democrats were able to capture vast swaths of the south on the advocacy of segregation. While it wasn't totally against their ideology, it didn't really completely jive with the rest of their platform. Never the less, by throwing that bone out there to the one issue racists in the south, they took over state after state. If he can take the basic premise of "The problem IS the government" and apply it to the one issue black community, I applaud him. It might just work.
I just hope he doesn't have to abandon any principals in order to do it.
I've never said “let’s legalize pot so we can tax it” - but I don't know how many of those who do say that intend the tax to discourage use.
If you say we should tax pot like cigarettes, you’re saying we should tax it to discourage use.
Thankyou for your list!
My pleasure!
If you say we should tax pot like cigarettes
I've never said that either.
A lot of others have.
Mar 12, 2015
Colorado's retail marijuana sales-tax receipts increased 153 percent in January, totaling more than $3.5 million, compared with $1.4 million in January 2014, the first month that recreational marijuana was legal.
The statistics are included in the most recent report from the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division. The $3.5 million came from a 10 percent sales tax applied to recreational marijuana.
http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/blog/morning-edition/2015/03/colorados-marijuana-sales-tax-revenue-soared-in.html
but we must never let the animals run the cities by their violence....
Gentle giant was robbing a store, assaulting the owner, and then questioned, attacked a cop....that can not be ignored...
So far. Very early yet.
California collects $100M a year in taxes from its medical marijuana program. It was voted into law in 1996.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Liberarians love their drugs it seems.
IS this guy starting to be MORE like his nut dad every day?
I like many of his ideas, but does he really think blacks are “more restricted” by laws and regs than we whites?
And “overly strict sentencing”? Are you kidding? Sentences are not strict ENOUGH, that is why we have soooo much trouble! Give me a break!
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