[Peace-discuss] More demagoguery from Van Jones

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The administration uses its Luftmensch, Van Jones to attack the only  
presidential candidate who opposes the Obama administration's killing  
and looting - expanded war abroad & expanded support for Wall St. at  
home.  --CGE]

Van Jones: Libertarianism ‘would spit in the face of Dr. King’

By David Edwards

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 10:24 EDT



Former White House adviser Van Jones on Monday defended recent remarks  
he made against “so-called libertarians” by saying, “I think we have  
to start punching back.”

In a March speech to the Occupy movement in Los Angeles, Jones had  
called libertarianism a “despicable ideology.”

“They say they’re Patriots but they hate everybody in America who  
looks like us,” the former Green Jobs czar explained. “They say they  
love America but they hate the people, the brown folk, the gays, the  
lesbians, the people with piercings, ya know ya’ll.”


During a Monday interview, Russia Today’s Alyona Minkovski asked Jones  
if he had fallen into the trap of extremist rhetoric with those remarks.

“I think we have to start punching back and fighting back,” he  
replied. “Here’s the deal: If you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.”

Noting his statement was “overly broad,” Jones added, “But that’s  
American politics. You guys should know that. American politics, we  
mix it up.”

“I’ve never backed down from a fight over ideas. [What did he do when  
attacked by Glen Beck? --CGE] I’m tired and I think a lot of people on  
the American left are tired of a certain section of people acting like  
they have a monopoly on patriotism. They don’t. And they’re the ones  
who challenge our patriotism. … I should have said the so-called  
libertarians who identify themselves with this ultra-right-wing camp  
because there are libertarians that don’t have those views.”

He continued: “But I’ve met libertarians who say Dr. Martin Luther  
King, Dr. King, is somebody they can’t support because someone should  
have the right to exclude people in this country from being able to go  
into a restaurant, go into a hotel or go into a place of business  
solely based on the color of their skin.”

“You can’t call yourself a patriot and adopt an extreme ideology that  
would spit in the face of Dr. King.”


Many libertarians believe that the federal government’s Civil Rights  
Act of 1964 went too far by banning whites-only lunch counters and  
other discrimination by business.

“I think it’s a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your  
restaurant—but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership,”  
then-Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY), a libertarian, told the  
Louisville Courier-Journal in 2010. “In a free society, we will  
tolerate boorish people, who have abhorrent behavior.”

After a firestorm of criticism, Paul released a statement saying he  
backed the Civil Rights Act.

“I support the Civil Rights Act because I overwhelmingly agree with  
the intent of the legislation, which was to stop discrimination in the  
public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim  
Crow laws,” he said.

“This much is clear: The federal government has far overreached in its  
power grabs,” the libertarian added. “The federal government is out of  
control, and those who love liberty and value individual and state’s  
rights must stand up to it.”

Watch this video from RT’s The Alyona Show, broadcast April 9, 2012.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/10/van-jones-libertarianism-would-spit-in-the-face-of-dr-king/

David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His  
work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published  
at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network  
manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing  
enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at  
@DavidEdwards.






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